Italians started voting in two-day local elections on Sunday amid a wave of anti-political sentiment resulting from recent austerity policies and party scandals.

Over 9 million citizens, around 20 percent of the total electorate, were eligible to vote in nearly 1,000 municipalities across the country, including major cities such as northern Genoa and southern Palermo.

Polling stations opened at 8:00 a.m. local time on Sunday, while preliminary results are expected after voting closes at 3:00 p.m. Monday.

According to local analysts, the elections will provide a first test to Prime Minister Mario Monti's increasingly unpopular rigor reforms since his emergency cabinet of technocrats was appointed last November.

In addition, the vote may also help provide a scenario of Italians' mood ahead of the 2013 general vote as the main political parties supporting Monti's government are struggling for position.

Earlier this week, local surveys suggested that Five-star Movement led by comedian Beppe Grillo that denounces corruption and opposes mainstream political leaders would capture a big share of the vote.

However, "these results can hardly suggest us the names of the winners and losers of the general political election next year", a noted international politics professor at Bologna University, Angelo Panebianco, said.

In his view, the current situation was complex especially due to two factors: an economic crisis, which has led many Italians to only care of local results without thinking in the long term, and a political crisis which has triggered growing skepticism towards the political world.

In fact, a significant number of Italians eligible to vote called themselves either undecided or likely to abstain.

"I have not gone to the polls and I am not sure I will go on Monday, as to tell the truth I do not feel like voting anymore," an entrepreneur from Genoa, Elio Dameri, told Xinhua.

"Too many corruption scandals have spoiled the political world, and most people I know are fed up with it. I am pretty satisfied of how Monti's government is handling the economic crisis, but what I cannot stand anymore is politicians who always do not practice what they preach," he stressed.

Another voter from Como in northern Italy, Mauro Corraduzza, agreed that widespread immorality in the Italian political world was hard to heal.

"The names of parties change, but politicians never change," he said. "I will vote a candidate that I personally know as I trust him, but I am afraid this elections will not change anything in my country once again."

According to Fabrizio Luffarelli, a young manager from the central town of Frosinone, going to the polls was still useful "as it reaffirms the important value of this democratic instrument in current difficult times that Italy is led by a cabinet of technocrats."

But the vote, he added, will also highlight Italians'discontent and protest following an escalation of corruption scandals involving all main political groups in the country.

In particular, party funding has become a prior issue in Italy after a series of investigations were opened against representatives of center-left Democratic Party and former premier Silvio Berlusconi's main ally, rightist Northern League party.

Meanwhile, many Italians' initial trust in Monti has receded as they were hit by a recent series of tough austerity measures, including major pension cuts and tax hikes, adopted by his cabinet to warn off a dramatic debt crisis.