Exit polls showed the pro-Israel prime minister of Italy leading in his bid for a third term.
The center-right coalition of Silvio Berlusconi was about two percentage points ahead of the center-left coalition led by former Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni, the polls showed.
More than 158 parties fielded candidates in the general elections Sunday and Monday.
Several prominent Jewish candidates are seeking national or local office. They include the outspoken journalist Fiamma Nirenstein, a longtime critic of the so-called “new anti-Semitism” in Europe, running for Parliament with Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party.
Berlusconi, a conservative billionaire, is seeking another mandate in a country troubled by social and economic woes. He has been accused repeatedly of corruption but has won praise from Jewish groups for his support of Israel.
Veltroni also has been lauded by Jews for instituting a broad Holocaust educational program and escorting high school students on educational trips each year to Auschwitz.
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