Berlusconi faces popularity test in municipal elections

Italians began voting yesterday in local elections that are seen as the first test of Silvio Berlusconi's government since he became Prime Minister a year ago.

Twelve million people, about quarter of all Italians, are eligible to vote in the two-day ballot to elect 967 mayors, 10 provincial presidents and several city councils. The first results are expected today.

Voting in Parma and Piacenza in particular will be watched with interest. Both lean to the left traditionally, but since 1998 they have been held by the centre-right. A reversion to the left would strike a blow against Mr Berlusconi's conservative government.

After recent strong results by far-right parties across Europe, the anti-immigrant Northern League will hope to increase support in its strongholds of Como, Varese, Vicenza and Treviso and thereby its power within the government coalition.

The Prime Minister's alliance won a high percentage of the vote last year with a campaign promising infrastructure projects, tax cuts and reforms to labour and pension laws. Mr Berlusconi even signed a "contract" with his electorate on television, tying him to his campaign pledges.

There has been some legislative change. And in his dual roles as Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Mr Berlusconi has brought Italy to prominence abroad with its role in negotiating the exile of Palestinians from Bethlehem, and in hosting the forthcoming Nato summit. But the government's electoral pledges have been slow to materialise.

Last week it drew criticism for its economic performance from the employers' confederation, which supported the coalition before last year's general election but looked disillusioned at this round of polls. The national debt is bigger than ever, the budget deficit continues to worry the European Commission and the growth in GDP is likely to be 1.3 per cent, lower than forecast.

The coalition is still at loggerheads with unions over a planned change to labour law, which prompted a general strike and brought more than a million people on to the streets last month.

As a new investigation opens into police brutality, the government continues to be haunted by the ghost of last year's G8 summit in Genoa, at which an anti-globalisation protester was killed.

The Prime Minister has provoked a storm over his apparent attempts to influence the media. A court ruling on a case in which he is accused of bribing judges also looms.

The mayoral elections in Pistoia and Monza have drawn attention. In Pistoia in Tuscany, 18-year-old Matteo Bertinelli is the youngest candidate standing. In Monza, the porn star La Cicciolina returns to politics.