Scandal hit Berlusconi tipped to get comfortable majority in Italian polls

London, June 8 (ANI): The centre-Right party of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi seems like getting a comfortable majority in the European elections according to a poll, which shows that voters have overlooked the scandals engulfing him.

A poll commissioned by La Repubblica newspaper gave Berlusconi's People of Freedom Party between 39 and 43 per cent of the vote, and the left-wing opposition between 27 and 31 per cent of the vote.

It showed that the anti-immigration, Right-wing Northern League, an ally of Berlusconi's party, attracted between 6.5 and 10.5 per cent of the vote The results, collated by polling agency IPR marketing, were preliminary, appearing within minutes of voting coming to an end late on Sunday night.They were based on a poll of 5,000 people carried out as Italians cast their votes, The Telegraph reported.

In the past, however, exit polls and early projections have turned out to be highly unreliable in Italy, in part because some voters are reluctant to admit that they have voted for Right-wing parties.

But if proved to be accurate, the results appeared to chime with trends across Europe, in which centre-Right parties looked set for victories, while centre-Left parties such as Britain's Labour were punished at the polls.

Berlusconi's People of Freedom Party appeared to have fared well, but a vote of 39-43 per cent is far lower than the 70 per cent approval rating that he often claims for himself.

Italy, with a population of 58 million, sends 72 MEPs to Brussels. (ANI)