Candidates make final appeal to voters in Italy's election

Italians got a break from bitter political rhetoric today, a day before general elections and at the end of a divisive race that was largely consumed by mud-slinging.

“Finally it’s over. We vote,” headlined moderate daily La Stampa.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi and his centre-left rival, Romano Prodi, wrapped up their campaigns on Friday – the last day campaigning was allowed.

Some complained that the personal bickering had prevented any serious discussion of issues.

“The insistence with which we have asked Prodi and Berlusconi to tell us of their platforms and of how they would face the country’s problems has been wasted breath,” wrote top commentator Sergio Romano in today’s front page editorial on leading daily Corriere della Sera.

“You are the real army of freedom,” Berlusconi told supporters gathered in the southern city of Naples on Friday. “We have the right to demand five more years to build the Italy we’ve always wanted.”

Characterising the election Sunday and Monday as a choice between two systems of values, he said: “Let’s choose an Italy of rights, of tolerance, of respect of all, of well-being.”

“Above all, an Italy that knows how to love,” he added.

He described an Italy run by the centre-left as a country “of taxes, of insults, of lies, of doors opened wide to illegal immigrants, of anti-globalization (supporters) who burn the flags of friendly powers, who want to take the crucifix out of schools”.

Speaking at the same time in downtown Rome, Prodi appealed for unity.

“Mine is not only an appeal to go to the polls, but a call for the reconstruction of the country,” said Prodi, a former premier and EU chief. “Only together can we make it.”

Thousands of people streamed into Rome’s Piazza del Popolo for the centre-left rally. Some waved rainbow peace flags; some used the cover of British magazine The Economist – which featured a picture of Berlusconi and the word “Basta” (Enough) – as a poster.

“We only make promises we know we can keep,” Prodi said.

The final days of campaigning were nasty.

In a speech on Tuesday to small business owners, one of his power bases, Berlusconi shocked the nation by referring to those intending to vote for the opposition as “coglioni” – a vulgarism that roughly translates as morons. He repeated it yesterday in Naples.

The candidates’ last televised debate on Monday was remarkable for the insults the two tossed at each other.

Both lead fractious coalitions of parties. Prodi’s Union ranges from pro-Vatican moderates to Communists. Berlusconi’s House of Freedoms coalition includes Christian Democrats, former neo-fascists and an anti-immigrant party.

Berlusconi, a media tycoon, was elected in 2001 on high hopes that his knack for making money would translate into a business boom for Italy – but economic growth has ground to a halt and even business leaders are turning their backs on him.

He has conducted an aggressive campaign, trying to close the gap that opinion polls have shown between his conservative bloc and the opposition. A poll blackout entered into force late last month.

Earlier yesterday, Prodi urged undecided moderates and Catholics to cast ballots, and for the second time in as many days raised the possibility he might be defeated.

Both leaders have tried to draw in the undecided, estimated to be a double-digit percentage and a slice of the electorate that will be crucial in determining what is expected to be a close election.

Some 47 million Italians are eligible to vote in the balloting, as well as some 2.6 million Italians living abroad who can vote for the first time in a national election. The Foreign Ministry said that as of 3pm (2pm Irish time) on Friday, 42% of eligible Italian voters living abroad had cast ballots. The figure was not final and would be updated, the ministry said.