Voter turnout for Italy’s regional elections has surpassed all expectations. And as a result, Italy’s current prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has more to mourn than the passing of Pope John Paul II in the Vatican. While millions of people waited in line to view the Pope, enough Italians went to the polls this past Sunday and Monday to liberate six of the eight governorships previously controlled by Berlusconi’s coalition, the House of Freedoms.

The Economist reported on April 6 that Berlusconi’s recent efforts to attract voter support with tax cuts and promises to bring Italian troops home from Iraq have failed to gather even the support which has granted him the honor of being “the longest-serving Italian leader since the 1922-43 dictatorship of Benito Mussolini.”

Berlusconi’s unpopularity suggests that former President of the European Commission Romano Prodi may have a shot at taking over Italy’s reins. Prodi’s coalition, known as the Union, finds fault with Berlusconi’s unapologetic efforts to increase his personal control over the Italian media and does not support a current reform which aims to strengthen the power of the prime minister and weaken those of the president and the constitutional court.