(25 Sep 2022)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4398794
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rome - 25 September 2022
1. Hand pushing ballot into ballot box
HEADLINE: Italians cast their votes in crucial election
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mila - 25 September 2022
2. Polling station in Milan
ANNOTATION: Voters in Italy were voting Sunday in an election that polls say could result in Italy's first woman prime minister.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ancona - 23 August 2022
3. Giorgia Meloni political rally
ANNOTATION: The far-right Brothers of Italy party, led by Giorgia Meloni, had a strong lead in the polls going into the election.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rome - 22 September 2022
4. Center-right coalition leaders on stage at final rally in Rome
ANNOTATION: Meloni has formed a center-right alliance with former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia's party and Matteo Salvini's League party.
5. Final rally of center-right coalition
ANNOTATION: The result could give Italy its first far-right government since World War II, led by a party with neo-fascist roots.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ancona - 23 August 2022
6. Brothers of Italy rally in Ancona
ANNOTATION: Meloni has used the campaign stump to blast Europe while singing the praises of God, country, and family.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rome - 22 September 2022
7. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Giorgia Meloni, Leader of Brothers of Italy party:
"Those who dream of a proud Italy are not afraid. Those who want to be proud once more of their nation, of its people, of its flag."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rome - 25 September 2022
8. Center-left leader Enrico Letta outside polling station
ANNOTATION: The leader of Italy's center left, Enrico Letta, had difficulty pulling together a coalition.
9. Letta waving as he enters polling station
ANNOTATION: Letta was, nevertheless, optimistic as he went to vote Sunday.
10. Ballots on table at polling station in Rome
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Milan - 25 September 2022
11. Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his companion at polling station in Milan
ANNOTATION: Berlusconi, the 86-year-old three-time prime minister, was joined by his companion as he voted at a polling station in Milan.
12. Matteo Salvini casting his ballot at polling station in Milan
ANNOTATION: Salvini, known for his tough anti-migrant stance when he served as interior minister, grinned from ear to ear as he voted.
13. Woman sorting ballots
14. Close of ballots
ANNOTATION: Polls close at 11 p.m. local time, with projections and partial results expected early Monday morning.
STORYLINE:
Italians voted Sunday in an election that could move the country’s politics sharply toward the right during a critical time for Europe, with war in Ukraine fueling skyrocketing energy bills and testing the West's resolve to stand united against Russian aggression.
Polls opened at 7 a.m. (0500GMT) and by noon turnout was equal to or slightly less than at the same time during Italy's last general election in 2018.
The counting of paper ballots was expected to begin shortly after they close at 11 p.m. (2100 GMT), with projections based on partial results coming early Monday morning.
Publication of opinion polls is banned in the two weeks leading up to the election, but polls before that showed far-right leader Giorgia Meloni and her Brothers of Italy party, with its neo-fascist roots, the most popular.
That suggested Italians were poised to vote their first far-right government into power since World War II. Close behind was former Premier Enrico Letta and his center-left Democratic Party.
“Today you can help write history,” Meloni tweeted Sunday morning.
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