Italian supreme court confirms Prodi election win

Italy's centre-left coalition leader Romano Prodi flashes a victory sign as he speaks to journalists in Rome. Picture / Reuters

ROME - Italy's supreme court today confirmed Romano Prodi's narrow victory in last week's general election, dismissing accusations by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of widespread voting irregularities.

The ruling ended days of political stalemate and cleared the way for Prodi to start work on forming a government, which is unlikely to take office before the second half of May because of a constitutional logjam.

"Finally this electoral story is over," Prodi said. "After the court ruling, Italians have no further doubts about our victory. Now we are working for a strong government and to resolve the problems of Italian society."

However, Berlusconi's Forza Italia party still refused to concede defeat, saying other aspects of the closest Italian election in modern history still needed clarifying.

"We need additional checks," said Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti, a senior Forza Italia politician. He did not elaborate but any further checks would almost certainly fail to prevent Prodi taking office.

But not all Berlusconi's partners wanted to prolong the post-election battle, with the centrist UDC party immediately conceding defeat. The Northern League later acknowledged Prodi's victory but said it was "pyrrhic" because the slim majority could make it difficult for the centre left to govern.

Berlusconi has accused his opponents of rigging the election and insisted the official result be overturned because of flawed counting procedures and problems with overseas votes.

After a week of checks across Italy, the supreme court said in a statement Prodi won the election in the lower house by 24,755 votes. Provisional results last week said the winning margin was a slightly higher 25,224 votes.

Despite the tight victory, Prodi's coalition will have almost 70 more seats than the centre right in the 630-seat lower chamber, thanks to new rules introduced by Berlusconi last year.

In the Senate, however, it will have a two-seat majority. That might become just a one-seat majority, according to Mirko Tremaglia, minister for Italians living abroad, because of an independent senator elected abroad who is set to join the right.

The narrow result has left many Italians wondering how long the next government will last and has unsettled financial markets, worried that Prodi will be too weak to push through unpopular reforms to tackle Italy's stagnant economy.

Whether or not Berlusconi officially concedes, Italy still faces weeks of political limbo as a new government is unlikely to be appointed before the second half of May.

Under the Italian constitution, the head of state formally gives the election winner the mandate to govern.

But the transition process is complicated this year because President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi's term expires on May 18 and he wants his successor to nominate the new prime minister.

The new parliament meets for the first time on April 28. It will elect a successor to Ciampi on May 12-13.

Berlusconi is worried the centre left will elect one of its own supporters as president, which would provide Prodi's coalition with crucial institutional clout in the byzantine world of Italian politics.

The outgoing prime minister has said the election was so close Italy needed a German-style grand coalition in which left and right would govern together. Prodi has rejected this, saying he has a big enough majority to govern.

However, even before he has taken office, cracks have already started to appear in Prodi's coalition -- which stretches from Roman Catholic moderates to communists.

Within days of the election, the leader of Italy's most powerful trade union demanded the scrapping of a reform introduced by Berlusconi to promote labour market flexibility.

The call was backed by Communist Refoundation, which will have a powerful voice in parliament thanks to a strong election showing. Prodi wants to modify the law, not abandon it.

- REUTERS