Italians started voting on Sunday for their 62nd post-war government, with large numbers reported to be undecided or expressing their discontent with the political classes by staying away from polling stations.

Silvio Berlusconi, leader of the opposition centre-right People of Freedom alliance, had been ahead in the last permitted opinion polls two weeks ago but on Sunday one of his newspapers warned supporters of the danger of a “draw” with Walter Veltroni’s centre-left Democratic party.