Italy: Alessandra Mussolini, the granddaughter of Italy's wartime fascist dictator, was branded a cheat at the weekend when electoral referees barred her from contesting an election, having decided that hundreds of the signatures she had needed to allow her to stand had been faked.
Among the allegedly counterfeit endorsements was that of the actress Ornella Muti, who yesterday denied having approved Ms Mussolini's candidacy.
Judges charged with scrutinising the list that her party presented said other supposed signatories were found to be dead, or to have been born on February 31st.
One of the judges described "blatant irregularities". Ms Mussolini announced she was preparing an appeal and was going on hunger strike until the matter was resolved.
She railed at what she said was a plot by former allies on the far right, describing them in an interview yesterday as "crooked pigs".
The former model broke away from Italy's main hard-right party, the National Alliance, in 2003.
Her new party, Social Alternative, won 1.2 per cent of the national vote at its first big test, last year's European elections. But it looked likely to have a crucial influence on regional elections at the beginning of next month.
Ms Mussolini was intending to stand for the governorship of Lazio, the region that includes Rome.
The latest poll, published by the financial daily Il Sole-24 Ore, suggested she could net more than 9 per cent, scuppering the prospects of the incumbent, Francesco Storace of the National Alliance. Mr Storace's supporters have claimed she accepted help from the centre-left.
Under Italian law, candidates can stand only if they muster a number of endorsements that varies according to the population of the region.
In the case of Lazio, it is 3,500.
Ms Mussolini presented some 4,300 signatures but, at the request of one of Mr Storace's followers, the judges agreed to check 2,000.
They said they stopped after rejecting 932.
In an interview published by the daily La Repubblica, Ms Mussolini was quoted as saying: "I swear by my grandmother Rachele [ the late wife of the dictator] that I shall destroy Francesco Storace."