Wearing an Italian soccer cap and sipping an espresso, Moroccan Abbes Mohamed is certain that a centre-left victory in Italy's election on Sunday and Monday would improve life for immigrants.
"The left is much more for integrating foreigners than the right. They just make it difficult," said the 35-year-old in a cafe in Verona, northern Italy. "I really hope the left wins."
Mohamed has lived in Italy for over five years, but he says he is fearful for new immigrants if poll favourite Silvio Berlusconi and his anti-immigrant Northern League allies win.
The League's stance plays well in the rich north, where resentment of foreigners has spread as the number of immigrants, particularly from north Africa and eastern Europe, has grown.
One League campaign poster shows a Native American in feathered head-dress with the text: "They were also subjected to immigration and now they live on reserves! Think about it."
In contrast to previous campaigns, the main sides contesting this vote - called after Romano Prodi's centre-left government fell in January - have not put immigration in the spotlight, though both have promised to get tough on crime by immigrants.
The spread of Roma or gypsy camps on city outskirts has raised concern among Italians about crime and other problems blamed on illegal immigration. Forced removals are common.
Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL) party promises to expel all illegal immigrants and crack down on gypsy camps and "centres linked to the preaching of Muslim fundamentalism".
Walter Veltroni's centre-left Democratic Party (PD) puts the focus on integration, looking to increase the duration of legitimate immigrants' residency permits but to guarantee that expulsion orders for illegal immigrants are really carried out.
NORTHERN LEAGUE INFLUENCE
