Italians head to polls amid virus warning

ROME: Italians headed to the polls on 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 ater 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 centre-let 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 per cent, the interior ministry said.

The cost-cuting reform is the brainchild of the co-governing Five Star Movement (M5S), but while its centre-let coalition Democratic Party (PD) partner and parties on the right are theoretically in favour, their support has been lacklustre at best.

The regional batle is for governance of Campania, Liguria, Marche, Puglia, Tuscany, Valle d’aosta and Veneto.

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