Italy defies virus for vote as far-right plots seismic change

Italians headed to the polls Sunday -- to the alarm of coronavirus experts -- for a referendum and regional elections that could weaken the government and radically reshape the political landscape.

Just a week after a Herculean effort by schools to reopen in line with last-minute COVID-19 rules, classrooms across the country were shut to pupils and transformed into ballot stations for the two-day vote.

A triumph for the far-right in this fiercely fought campaign would sound alarm bells in Brussels.

It will be the first test for Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte's center-left coalition government since it imposed an economically crippling nationwide lockdown to fight the virus, which has killed almost 36,000 people.

The referendum, on slashing the number of members of parliament -- from 630 to 400 in the lower house, and 315 to 200 in the upper house -- is expected to pass, though there has been a late uptick in the number of prominent 'no' declarations.

Mid-Sunday, turnout for the referendum stood at 12.3 percent, the interior ministry said.

The cost-cutting reform is the brainchild of the co-governing Five Star Movement (M5S), but while its center-left coalition Democratic Party (PD) partner and parties on the right are theoretically in favor, their support has been lackluster at best.

Uncertain future

The regional battle is for governance of Campania, Liguria, Marche, Puglia, Tuscany, Valle d'Aosta and Veneto.

In every region, Matteo Salvini's far-right League, the anti-immigration Brothers of Italy and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia have joined forces in a right-wing coalition.

The coalition is set to easily retake Veneto and Liguria.

It could also snatch Marche and Puglia from the left.

But all eyes will be on Tuscany, a historic left-wing stronghold that might fall to the far-right.

"If the left performs particularly poorly... Brussels will grow concerned," Berenberg economist Florian Hense told AFP.

It will worry whether the national recovery plan Italy has to present to obtain grants or loans to aid its ailing economy after the coronavirus lockdown "will be ambitious enough, given the limited political capital of the coalition in Rome," he said.

"And whether, whatever plan Italy comes up with, it will actually implement it given the uncertain future of the current coalition".

Concern over virus

The poll is going ahead despite warnings against opening polling stations while COVID-19 case numbers are on the rise.

While Italy currently has fewer new cases than Britain, France or Spain, it is still recording more than 1,500 daily.

"The country is in a state of emergency; it is utterly contradictory to be massing people together at polling stations, particularly in light of the trend in Europe," Professor Massimo Galli, infectious diseases chief at Milan's Sacco hospital, told AFP.

But Lorenzo Salvioni, a student in Rome, said he hoped "the country's difficulties caused by COVID" would mobilize Italians to vote.

Some precautions have been taken with elderly and pregnant voters getting fast-track lanes to cast their ballot.

With older people potentially put off voting by the health risks, the left has been organizing special transport.

One in three voters for the PD and League are over 65-years old, according to Italy's Corriere della Sera daily.

Nearly 2,000 voters in isolation due to the coronavirus have also registered to have their votes collected, including Berlusconi.

But fear of catching the virus has seen a flurry of last-minute desertions by polling station volunteers.

Milan was forced Saturday to call urgently for 100 fresh pairs of hands.

Prime Minister Conte has clinched a behind-doors deal with PD leader Nicola Zingaretti to fight to save each other's political skins should the left perform disastrously, according to the Repubblica daily.

That might not be enough.

"These elections are not going to topple the government," political commentator Barbara Fiammeri for Italy's Il Sole 24 Ore daily told AFP.

"But there could well be a crisis, whether it be Conte's fall, the forming of new coalition, or even a national unity government".

(Source: AFP)

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