Voters get it all off chests in Italy poll

A SURGE for populist and far-right parties in Italy’s elections could result in a hung parliament with a major right-wing alliance likely to win the most votes, according to projections yesterday, after a campaign dominated by anger against immigration.

A bare-breasted protester confronted Silvio Berlusconi as the scandal-hit tycoon staged a return to frontline politics.

Leaping on to a table, the demonstrator shouted out “Time’s up” as the flamboyant 81-year-old prepared to vote in the Italian elections.

The three-times former PM, famed for his disreputable “bunga-bunga” parties, averted his eyes and was bundled out of the room by security guards. The woman was taken down from the table and ushered out.

Scrawled across her chest was the phrase “Berlusconi, you have expired”.

On her back was the word “Femen”, the name of a radical Ukrainian feminist group.

The incident took place as the self-styled godfather of Italian politics posed for photographers at a voting station in Milan.

Mr Berlusconi’s 32-yearold fiancee Francesca Pascale joked: “She passed so quickly I didn’t get a chance to see her.”

Italians went to the polls after a divisive election campaign dominated by concerns over immigration.

Post-election predictions showed that the far-right League party could beat Mr Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (Go Italy) party within the rightwing coalition. That raises the prospect of League leader Matteo Salvini, who has promised to shut down gypsy Roma camps, deport hundreds of thousands of migrants and tackle the “danger” of Islam, becoming Italy’s next prime minister.

The Eurosceptic, anti-establishment Five Star Movement, which has drawn support from Italians fed up with traditional parties, was predicted to come second to the coalition.

Mr Berlusconi cannot hold elected office because of a fraud conviction, but has put forward Antonio Tajani as his prime ministerial nominee.

“The verdict in Italy is always the same: the country is in constant instability,” Claudio Tito, columnist for La Repubblica, said.

Picture: LUCA BRUNO A topless female protester is carried away from a polling station where Italian former premier and leader of the Forza Italia (Go Italy) party Silvio Berlusconi was about to vote. More than 46 million Italians were voting on Sunday in the general...