Italians vote in election

Italians voted on Sunday in an election that could oust Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the media tycoon who promised prosperity but failed to lift Italy's flagging economy during five years in power.
Polling stations across the country were busy at the start of a two-day election that could see the return to power of Romano Prodi, leader of a broad centre-left coalition.
"I slept very well, it's a beautiful sunny day and I hope everything finishes in the best possible way," said Prodi as he voted in his home town of Bologna in northern Italy.
The softly spoken "professor" is favourite to beat the flamboyant Berlusconi whom he accuses of economic mismanagement and embarrassing Italy with a constant stream of gaffes.
Berlusconi, the US government's strongest ally in continental Europe and Italy's richest man, still hopes his promises of tax cuts will swing a surprise victory. But even he spoke of possible defeat in the final days of campaigning.
True to form, Berlusconi caused a minor stir when he went to vote in Italy's financial capital Milan accompanied by his 95-year-old mother Rosa, who kissed his hand for the cameras.
"Put a cross on the Forza Italia! (his party) logo," Berlusconi told Rosa, and was immediately censured by a scrutineer who considered the remark campaigning.
"Not even with my mother? You really are the Italy that has no love," replied a smiling Berlusconi who has rejected a string of accusations of bending Italy's election campaign rules.
In a final bout of feuding, the opposition lodged a formal complaint over text messages Berlusconi's party sent to selected Italians' mobile phones on Saturday, during a period when there was supposed to be a moratorium on campaigning.
TURNOUT VITAL
Opinion polls have not been published in two weeks, but Prodi, who beat Berlusconi in a general election 10 years ago, has led the race since returning to Italian politics in 2004 from a five-year stint as head of the European Commission.
The acrimonious campaign, in which Berlusconi used offensive language against centre-left voters and Prodi compared his rival to a drunk, has turned the vote into something of a referendum on the prime minister's term as head of a conservative alliance.
"I've got flu and a fever but I'm still determined to vote because I don't want to see Italy in this state for another five years," said social worker Marina Zappaterra, voting in Rome.
Polling stations were due to remain open until 10.00 pm (2000 GMT) on Sunday and then from 7.00 am to 3.00 pm on Monday, with the first exit polls expected within minutes and official results likely late on Monday evening.