Italy votes...

[Up-dated with more pictures] After a day of no campaigning yesterday, Italy starts voting today (Sunday), and voting goes on until 3 PM on Monday. I think this will be a close thriller, with Prodi’s Union emerging with a small but undisputable majority.

Polling is not allowed during the last days of the campaign, but one analysis – supposedly accurate and stemming from inside the campaign – says that Berlusconi’s desperate behavior the last couple of day (“we will beat the Communists just like in 1948”, etc etc) has scared some people into his Freedom-alliance. But just as many has finally concluded that he really is crazy, and have therefore gone from Berlusconi to Prodi, or from undecided to Prodi.

Conclusion: Prodi should still have the lead. But I spoke to one journalist who had been interviewing people downtown Rome all day, and she often got the answer: “Berlusconi is over the top now, so I will vote for Fini [leader of the ex-fascist party, second biggest party in Berlusconi’s alliance] instead". Scary, since Rome is a pretty red city with Veltroni as Mayor. But I still think we will make it, and soon I will jump on the train to the even more red votes in Reggio-Emilia.

As the Italians decide, here are some elections posters with the main political alternatives to the left of center. And the ex-communists...