Italian Elections--Shades of 2004

The breathless reports of a center-left win in Italy appear to be unfounded. The left is whining, just like they did in the U.S. (with the notable difference that the left in Italy has the slight edge, while in the US, they did not) and the case appears headed to the Italian Supreme Court:

In Italy, the Italians voted a half for the right and another half for the left, with a slight majority for the right. The right has won the Senate and almost won the Upper House. The Left won the Upper House only by 0,7 votes of difference!

The reality on the ground in Italy is that the Left lost votes and popularity. It owes its ‘victory’ to the votes of the Italian expatriates.

This is what I call a coup d’etat. One cannot rule only for being elected by the voters living around. One has to be elected by those living in the country. And this is not the case in Italy.

I very much doubt there will be stability. I doubt that the left will be able to rule even just for 1 year. I doubt they will be able to pass laws ( and let’s hope this is the case! ).

But,it’s not over. The Right now is calling for a recount of the votes at the Upper House. It will be taking the case to the Supreme Court, which will have to re-count the votes for the Upper House. There are rumors that some 500 thousand ballotts have ‘misteriously’ disappeared.

Stay tuned. More here and here.