Discarded ballots add fuel to imbroglio in Italy [View All]

[SoCalDem]

Discarded ballots add fuel to imbroglio in Italy

Seattle Times, United States - 4 hours ago


Discarded ballots add fuel to imbroglio in Italy
By Liz Sly


Supporters of left-of-center leader Romano Prodi applaud as they listen to him speak Wednesday in Bologna, Italy. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is disputing the results and demanding a recount after Prodi's coalition won the general elections in Italy.


ROME — Italy's hotly disputed election is fast turning into a rerun of the Florida 2000 fiasco, with the discovery of a pile of ballots dumped in the garbage on the outskirts of Rome and the politicians continuing to bicker over who won the photo-finish poll. Rome's authorities immediately ordered an inquiry into the circumstances under which 18 ballot boxes were found by a passer-by stacked beside municipal garbage cans near a school that had served as a polling station.

They also said the 608 valid, marked ballots, contained in boxes clearly inscribed with the words "Ministry of Interior," would not have changed the election result and probably had been mistaken by the school's cleaners for trash. Rome Procurator Giovanni Ferrara told reporters the discarded votes already had been counted and would have no effect on the still uncertain outcome of the election, which left-of-center leader Romano Prodi says he won by a wafer-thin margin of 0.6 percent.

A recount of the trashed ballots, however, found that the tally for the center-right coalition led by incumbent Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is alleging widespread fraud, had been undercounted by one vote, according to the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.With Prodi ahead by just 25,000 votes out of more than 38 million cast, Berlusconi's camp is demanding a review of the result, insisting that every vote counts."There have been countless swindles all over Italy. I am confident that the result will be overturned," Berlusconi said outside his Rome headquarters.

"You are not rid of me yet!"

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