Italians voted yesterday in regional elections seen as a referendum on embattled Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and a chance for coalition partner, the anti-immigration Northern League, to boost its clout.

"At first glance it's a mega-survey on the Berlusconi government," said an editorial in the leading daily Corriere della Sera who slammed the "useless verbal violence" of the campaign.

It added that the populist Northern League "smelled victory" in the wealthy northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto.

Major gains there would embolden the party to demand a new Cabinet post and city hall in Mr Berlusconi's native Milan, Italy's economic and financial capital.

A resurgent Northern League could also further alienate a key Berlusconi ally, Parliament speaker Gianfranco Fini, who is often tipped as a successor to the three-time Prime Minister.

The party was an essential ally in Mr Berlusconi's return to power in 2008, campaigning on pledges of cracking down on illegal immigration and crime, often linking the two. Some 41 million Italians are eligible to vote in the elections for governors of 13 of the country's 20 regions.

Mr Berlusconi, flagging in opinion surveys and beset by scandal, has campaigned hard to get people out to vote for his centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) party for the last electoral test before his term ends in 2013.

The media tycoon, who campaigned for the PDL on the slogan "Love Always Wins Over Envy and Hatred", has seen his approval rating slip to 44 per cent, while the PDL-Northern League government scored only 38 per cent in a recent opinion poll.

Keeping with the slogan, Mr Berlusconi, 73, said as he cast his ballot in Milan: "I hope hatred will not win out over love."

Yesterday's voting at some 50,000 polling stations was to continue until 10 p.m., resuming today from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.