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Italy's centre-left was headed for victory in local elections onMonday, reflecting widespread anger over austerity driving Italiansto join other crisis-hit eurozone countries to reject the statusquo. With just one-third of ballots left to count, the centre-right wasleft scrambling, many blaming the "anti-politics" sentimentsweeping the nation in the wake of the crisis and a slew ofcorruption scandals involving politicians. In Palermo, the biggest city going to the ballots, two centre-leftcandidates were ahead and will face off in a second round on May 20and 21. The Italy of Values candidate Leoluca Orlando -- a former mayorwith a reputation for tackling mafia in the crime-dogged city --was set to win 46.6 percent, while the Democratic Party (PD)candidate was at 20.71 percent. "Palermo is finally free!" Orlando said as results began filteringthrough. The centre-right People of Freedom (PDL), founded by ex-premierSilvio Berlusconi, was winning 11.33 percent -- a poor performanceechoed across Italy in what had been seen as a test for the party,now headed by a Berlusconi ally. The populist "Five Star Movement", founded by comedian BeppeGrillo, celebrated its first victory with the election of itscandidate as mayor in the town of Sarego in the Veneto region,traditionally a right-wing stronghold. Boosted by anger gaining ground in Italy, the movement has reliedon a social networks to give both the centre-left and right a runfor their money. In Parma, the PD was set to win 39.3 percent against the Five StarMovement's 19.4 percent, which would see them face off in thesecond round. "We are an epic change. And this is just the beginning. The partiesare melting into a political diarrhoea. The citizens are takingback their institutions," Grillo said in a YouTube message as thevotes flooded in. In the port city of Genoa the centre-left was taking 48.7 percent. "The novelty in these elections has been the return in many citiesof a wide coalition of the centre-left," Milan mayor GiulianoPisapia told reporters. The vote came after game-changer elections in France and Greecewhich reflected a desire to change the status quo and a rejectionof austerity. Ignazio La Russa, a lawmaker from the PDL and former defenceminister, told reporters: "We made mistakes with the candidates weput forward. "We're obsessed with finding people who look good without knowingwhether they have any experience while people want reliablecandidates," he said. Some 9.5 million Italians were eligible to vote in 941municipalities out of a total of around 8,000 including cities, butturnover figures in the two-day elections were down, at 66.88percent compared to 73.74 at the previous vote. PD official Davide Zoggia said: "From the results at our disposal,we see a major crisis in the centre-right of the PDL, and of theNorthern League" -- the two parties that formed a coalitiongovernment under Berlusconi. Berlusconi was ousted amid a flurry of sex and corruption scandals,while the League suffered a heavy blow in April when its historicleader Umberto Bossi was forced to quit amid allegations of misuseof party funds. In the northern city of Verona the right fought back, with thecandidate for the anti-immigrant Northern League snagging 57.4percent of the vote. The vote is the first since the fall of Berlusconi in November 2011and his replacement by Mario Monti at the head of an unelected,technocratic government charged with saving Italy from bankruptcy. "The picture that emerges is of a very clear strengthening of thePD and the centre-left, a tsunami of the centre-right and a stepforward for Grillo," PD head Pier Luigi Bersani told reporters asthe vote counting wound up. He added that it was clear that those Italians who had chosen tovote for the PD were in favour of the party's support for Monti'stechnical government. While the PDL head Alfano accepted the party had "suffered adefeat", Berlusconi said "the results were better than I expected"considering the country's current "festival of anti-politics." The run-up to the polls has been marked by rising discontent withthe budget cuts, pension reforms and tax increases implemented byMonti and Italian media have drawn attention to a spate of suicidesby businessmen driven to despair. The focus on the suicide crisis began on March 28 when GiuseppeCampaniello set himself on fire in front of a tax office -- agesture reminiscent of the Arab Spring revolts -- and died in agonyin hospital a few days later. Lavish benefits for politicians and a far-reaching scandal intopublic subsidies for political parties in recent weeks at a timewhen austerity cuts are beginning to hit ordinary Italians havefanned disillusionment. Italy is scheduled to hold a general election in spring 2013. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China E-cig Cartomizers , Ego K Ecig, and more. For more , please visit Pcc e Cigarette today!
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