Italian elections chaos: More than 200 polling stations CLOSED over wrong voting papers
THE ITALIAN election kicked off in chaotic fashion with more than 200 polling stations still closed two hours after the official opening of the vote. The area affected is the constituency where leader of left-wing coalition Pietro Grasso is running.
Italian election: Voters called back after WRONG cards delivered
Presidents of the polling stations in two neighbourhoods of southern Italian city Palermo, Sicily, had to ask citizens to return later today to cast their ballots as they were delivered the wrong voting papers.
According to the officials controlling the voting operations, they have been handed the voting papers belonging to another constituency.
The officials realised there was a mistake when they saw that the papers were not displaying the name of President of the Senate Pietro Grasso, leader of left-wing coalition Liberi E Uguali.
It is believed that more than 200,000 voting papers had to be reprinted and delivered to the polling stations involved.
In the most important day for a democracy these delays and mistakes are unacceptable
Mr Grasso took to Twitter to voice his disappointment.
He wrote: “In the most important day for a democracy these delays and mistakes are unacceptable.
“I hope this won’t affect the turnout”.
Alessandro Pagano, running with right-wing party Lega in Palermo, also shared his disappointment.
He said: “What is happening in Palermo is extremely serious.
“Because of a mistake made by the local council, people are queueing without being able to vote.
“This is disconcerting.”
One of the people arrived earlier this morning to one of the stations involved branded what happened “outrageous”.
He said: “It is outrageous that two hours after the rest of Italy has started to vote, in Palermo there are still people waiting to get inside their polling stations”.
The polling stations have been reportedly opened, allowing citizens to vote with more than a two-hour delay.