Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition enjoyed a narrow lead over Walter Veltroni's centre-left Democratic Party in Italy's general elections, according to exit polls published Monday by Italian broadcasters, according to dpa. Estimates published by Sky Italia immediately after polls closed gave Berlusconi a 42 per cent share of the votes cast for the lower house, compared with 40 per cent for Veltroni. State television RAI opted for a range of 38.5-45.5 per cent for Berlusconi, compared with a range of 37-43 per cent for Veltroni. A similarly close gap - about 3 per cent - was registered in the upper house, the Senate, where the final outcome will ultimately depend on the performance of either candidate in Italy's individual 20 regions. The difference between the two sides estimated by the exit polls was too small to declare a winner, observers said. They cited the precedent of the 2006 general election, when less than 30,000 votes separated the two main coalitions and no clear victor emerged until final results came in a day after polls closed. On that occasion, the exit polls credited then winner Romano Prodi with a much bigger majority than what he eventually gained. The Interior Ministry said it would begin providing preliminary estimates based on a sample of actual ballots cast by the evening. Voting mostly went off smoothly both Sunday and Monday, but authorities were investigating the disappearance of around 100 unmarked ballots from a polling station in Palermo, Sicily. Voters were forced to hand in any mobile phones equipped with a camera, slowing down voting procedures at some polling stations. And in north-western port La Spezia, a 84-woman suffered a stroke and died shortly after casting ballot, reports said On Sunday a slight dip in voter turnout compared to the first day of voting in the last election in 2006, was registered. Mayoral races also took place in several cities, most notably in Rome.
