The Facist is nomore!!
[DIV class=headline]Centre-left claims Italy victory [/DIV]
Italy's centre-left opposition has won a narrow victory in the lower house of parliament, official results say. It won 49.8% of the vote against 49.7% for the centre-right, according to interior ministry figures. The head of the centre-left coalition, former Prime Minister Romano Prodi, told cheering supporters in Rome: "Victory has arrived". But the claim has been contested by the ruling centre-right coalition of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. [DIV class=bo] His spokesman Paolo Bonaiuti said his bloc would demand a "scrupulous" check of election ballots.
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Today, we have turned a page... We will govern for five years [!--Emva--][!--Smva--]Romano Prodi [!--Emva--][/TD][/TR][/TBODY][/TABLE]
[DIV class=bo]The winning coalition will automatically be awarded 55% of the lower house seats under a new electoral law. Mr Berlusconi's coalition currently has a lead of one seat in the Senate, with six seats voted for by expatriates still to be declared. The centre-left Union says it believes it will win four of those seats, giving it an overall majority. The lower and upper houses have equal power in Italy's electoral system. One bloc must win both to prevent the country being locked in parliamentary stalemate.
Acrimonious campaign Mr Prodi told a crowd in central Rome: "Today, we have turned a page... We will govern for five years." Mr Berlusconi, a billionaire businessman and media magnate, has been in office since 2001. He has led Italy's longest-serving government since World War II, but the economy has proven sluggish for much of his tenure.
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Neither of the two main parties impressed me [!--Emva--][!--Smva--]Roby, Treviso, Italy [!--Emva--][!--So--]
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[DIV class=bo] The formation of a new government will have to wait until after the election of a new Italian president next month. President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi's seven-year term of office is about to expire. The campaign was marked by acrimony, with Mr Berlusconi mocking left-wing voters and Mr Prodi likening him to a drunkard. Mr Berlusconi's coalition has failed to revive the ailing economy Mr Prodi, a former Italian prime minister and president of the European Commission, was narrowly ahead in most opinion polls until they were suspended 10 days ago under electoral law. His mild-mannered - some say lacklustre - style contrasts sharply with Mr Berlusconi's media-savvy flamboyance. Mr Berlusconi has battled to fend off prosecution for alleged corruption and conflict of interest over his media empire.
[DIV class=footer]Story from BBC NEWS:
vny!://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/4897994.stm
Published: 2006/04/11 02:48:16 GMT
© BBC MMVI
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[DIV class=footer] [img height=152 alt="Romano Prodi in Rome, Tuesday 11 April 2006" hspace=0 src="vny!://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41546000/jpg/_41546708_prodi_getty_203body.jpg" width=203 border=0] [DIV class=cap]Mr Prodi says it is all over[/DIV][/DIV][/DIV]
