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Polls Against Berlusconi as Italians Vote

NPR | By Sylvia Poggioli

Published April 9, 2006 at 7:47 PM CDT

Prodi supporters wear T-shirts that, loosely translated, proclaim: "I'm a moron." Berlusconi used a vulgar term that equates to moron to describe anyone who could vote for his rival.

A Berlusconi supporter waves a huge flag proclaiming her allegiance to the prime minister.

Italians vote Sunday and Monday in what is seen as a referendum on the conservative government of their prime minister, the media tycoon-turned-politican Silvio Berlusconi.

His chief rival -- leading in the polls -- is softspoken Romano Prodi, former European Union commissioner and also a former prime minister. Prodi heads a center-left coalition. The campaign has been tense and strident. Results are expected Monday night.

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Sylvia Poggioli

Sylvia Poggioli is senior European correspondent for NPR's International Desk covering political, economic, and cultural news in Italy, the Vatican, Western Europe, and the Balkans. Poggioli's on-air reporting and analysis have encompassed the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, the turbulent civil war in the former Yugoslavia, and how immigration has transformed European societies.

See stories by Sylvia Poggioli