More than 4 million people turned out yesterday to vote in the centre-left primary elections. The elections allowed Italians to choose a leader for the centre-left coalition for the national elections of this Spring.
Prodi, the until now unofficial leader of the centre-left coalition, garnered 74.6% of the vote, while Fausto Bertinoti of the Communist Refoundation Party came second with 14.6% of the vote. The results are hailed as a great success both because of the huge turnout and the overwhelming majority that Prodi obtained.
Former European Commission chief Romano Prodi, who campaigned strongly to hold the 'primary', is expected to have no problems against six other centre-left candidates. Organizers were xpecting at least one million people to cast their ballots at 9,731 voting booths set across the country.
But shortly after midday, officials said that nearly 1.3 million centre-left sympathizers had already cast their vote while by the evening those numbers approached 4 million. Final results are expected by mid-afternoon Monday.
Voters were asked to sign a form saying they support the opposition's agenda and offer one euro as a contribution to the costs of the ballot. Prodi hailed the massive turnout, saying it went "beyond
expectations. It's beautiful, incredible. People are queuing up to vote all over the country. We've even run out of voting slips."
"This is a great celebration of democracy at work." said Prodi.
"It's clear that Italians want to have a say in choosing their leaders, they want to take part in the political process." At a last rally in Naples on Friday, Prodi urged centre-left voters to back him, saying he was "the candidate who best understands the need for balance and unity in the centre-left coalition... I also think I'm the one with the best chances of beating (Premier Silvio) Berlusconi."
Prodi defeated Berlusconi in the 1996 general elections only to be brought down some two years later by a rebellious ally, the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC). The idea of Sunday's primaries is to confirm and consolidate his leadership of the opposition and prevent a replay of his fall should he win next spring's general elections.
PRC leader Fausto Bertinotti is among several centre-left chiefs facing off against Prodi in the nationwide poll. The PRC ran alone in the previous, 2001 elections winning more than 5% of the vote. Speaking to reporters outside his office in Rome on Sunday, Prodi renewed his attack on the government's electoral reform plan, saying that the massive turnout in the 'primary' showed that Italians did not want the rules changed on the eve of elections.
