(13 May 2001)
Night shots
1. Various exteriors of polling station
2. People arriving
3. Two nuns entering polling station
4. People queuing to vote
5. Close-up identification card
6. Policeman locking gates at 2200 local time
7. Various election officials beginning count
STORYLINE:
Media magnate Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition is ahead in Italian parliamentary elections, according to state television exit polls.
The exit polls indicate Berlusconi, a former conservative premier, will win from 48 to 51 per cent of the vote in the Chamber of Deputies, while former Rome Mayor Francesco Rutelli, the centre-left's candidate, will take 41 to 44 per cent.
The polls showed Berlusconi also winning in the Senate.
Berlusconi, who's making a bid for a comeback as premier of Italy, has been weighed down by questions over his vast fortune and his right-wing allies.
Despite the incumbent centre-left's success in managing the economy, polls showed Berlusconi with a lead heading into the balloting.
Turnout is traditionally well over 80 per cent in Italy, but early voting was brisk even by Italian standards.
The Interior Ministry said nearly a fifth of Italy's 49.5 (m) million voters had gone to the polls by noon.
By 7 p-m - three hours before polls were to close - 59 per cent of voters had turned out.
But after 9 p-m, the lines were so long that the Interior Ministry requested that polling companies hold off in releasing exit poll results by one hour, until 11 p-m.
That was done so as not to sway or discourage people who were still voting.
The new government will be Italy's 59th since World War II, a tribute to a complex electoral system that gives tiny parties the leverage to shatter governing coalitions.
Repeated attempts to change the system have failed.
Berlusconi was premier for seven months in 1994, but his government fell when a key ally dropped out of the coalition.
He has tried ever since to regain power.
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