Angry Italians Vote for Fresh Faces in Local Elections : Politics: The long-dominant Christian Democrats fall under 10% in old strongholds. Neo-fascists become main party in Rome and Naples.

Italian voters in angry rebellion deserted the long-dominant political center in municipal elections Sunday, turning massively instead to fresh faces of the left and right.

Up and down a rain-drenched peninsula, voters humiliated the mainline Christian Democrats, limiting the party that has governed Italy without interruption since World War II to less than 10% in traditional strongholds like Rome and Naples. In each city, neo-fascists now make up the largest party.

The big winners of a stunning protest vote in 428 cities representing about a quarter of the electorate were Italy’s former Communists, an autonomy-minded northern-based movement and the neo-fascists, according to exit polls commissioned by state television from Doxa, a Milan polling firm. The polls, accurate in past elections, have a 2% margin of error. Actual vote counting will be completed today.

The most astonishing single result came in the crime-scarred Sicilian capital of Palermo. The poll gave leftist maverick Leoluca Orlando, a former mayor and founder of a national anti-Mafia party, a breathtaking 74% and outright election in a city long dominated by Christian Democrats.

“Protest has become government. The left has won. There can be no compromise (against the Mafia),” a jubilant Orlando said.

In cities where there was no outright majority Sunday, the top two finishers will face off Dec. 5.

In Rome, Francesco Rutelli, a 39-year-old Green supported by the now social democratic former Communists and other leftists, finished first in a 17-candidate field with about 44%.

“We have gotten rid of the old system of power. Rome can now look to the future healthy, strong and credible,” Rutelli said. He faces a runoff against Gianfranco Fini, 41-year-old national leader of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement, who got about 31%.

Supported by Christian Democrat deserters, the neo-fascists instantly became the single largest party in Rome, followed by the former Communists, now known as the Democratic Party of the Left.

In Naples, former Communist Party official Antonio Bassolino, 46, candidate of a broad leftist alliance, narrowly missed outright election, with around 48%, according to the polls. He faces neo-fascist Alessandra Mussolini, 30, the granddaughter of former dictator Benito Mussolini, in the runoff. She got about 29%, making the neo-fascists the single biggest party there as well.

The Christian Democrats, who with their Socialist allies typically draw 60% of Naples’ vote, managed just under 10% in behalf of their joint candidate, Massimo Caprara, a former Communist.

“Naples has to begin from the beginning. There is the will to build an honest and working city,” Bassolino said.

“We are the biggest party. I represent the alternative to the left,” said Mussolini.

What triggered the sea change in voting patterns Sunday is national scandal of unprecedented proportion that has decimated the Christian Democrats and the Socialists. More than 3,000 political figures, business people and government officials have been implicated in a 20-month investigation of kickbacks paid to political parties in exchange for public contracts. Other accusations have linked Establishment politicians to organized crime.

Choosing individual candidates for the first time under an electoral reform, the rebellious voters sent a clear off-with-their-heads message to entrenched politicians that is almost certain to be echoed at national elections, which may come as early as February.

The former Communists, who have long experience in municipal government but have never had a share of national power, ran strongly everywhere Sunday. In the north, they were hotly pursued by the Northern League, or Lega Nord. A populist-regionalist newcomer that is pro-federalist, anti-Rome, anti-immigrant and anti-south, the Lega won Milan’s mayoral election in June with 45%.