Italy: Exit polls suggest center left vote.

[No Elephants]

Feb 25, 9:16 AM EST

Exit polls show center-left leading national vote

By COLLEEN BARRY and FRANCES D'EMILIO
Associated Press

ROME (AP) -- Exit polls show Pier Luigi Bersani's center left coalition leading a national vote that is testing Italians' resolve to stay the course of painful economic reform.

Sky Italia says Bersani's coalition has taken 35.5 percent of the vote for the lower house of parliament, ahead of the center-right coalition under former Premier Silvio Berlusconi with 29 percent.

The poll by Tecne' has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percent.

A political movement founded by comic-turned-political agitator Beppe Grillo is projected to take 19 percent of the vote, while outgoing Premier Mario Monti's centrist coalition has 9.5 percent.

snip

The great unknown is comic-turned-political agitator Beppe Grillo, whose protest movement against the entrenched political class has gained in strength following a series of corporate scandals that only seemed to confirm the worst about Italy's establishment. If his self-styled political "tsunami," which was polling third, sweeps into Parliament with a big chunk of seats, Italy could be in store for a prolonged period of political confusion that would spook the markets.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_ITALY_ELECTIONS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-02-25-09-16-46

Comic-turned-political-agitator, used as a single adjective? LOL, guess we know where AP stands on Grillo.

That a disgrace cum clown like Berlusconi could still get 29% of the vote is astounding.