Prodi claims Italy election triumph
11th April 2006
Centre-left challenger Romano Prodi claimed victory by the narrowest of margins in Italy's parliamentary elections.
But Premier Silvio Berlusconi's forces demanded a recount in one chamber as Italy's election failed to deliver a clear verdict.
The outcome of the bitterly contested election hung on Tuesday's counting of votes cast by Italians living overseas. Prodi's coalition claimed four of the six seats, giving it the necessary margin for victory, but official results hadn't been released.
Final returns on Tuesday showed Prodi winning the lower Chamber of Deputies by one tenth of a percentage point - 49.8 to 49.7 per cent.
Under Italian electoral law, 55 percent of seats are awarded to the overall winner regardless of the scale of victory, giving Prodi's forces 340 seats in the 630-member lower house.
All eyes were on the Senate, however, which Prodi also needed to win to form a government.
The razor-thin margins raised the prospect of a political crisis in which the two claimants might each control a different house of parliament.
According to official returns, Berlusconi's conservative allies held a one-seat advantage in the upper Senate, with 155 seats to Prodi's 154.
But while the votes cast abroad were being counted, Prodi's co-ordinator for Italians living abroad, Franco Danieli, said the coalition had won four of the six seats.
"There are conditions to create a government and to govern, even if the country is divided in two," centre-left leader Piero Fassino said on a radio programme.
dailymail.co.uk
11th April 2006
Centre-left challenger Romano Prodi claimed victory by the narrowest of margins in Italy's parliamentary elections.
But Premier Silvio Berlusconi's forces demanded a recount in one chamber as Italy's election failed to deliver a clear verdict.
The outcome of the bitterly contested election hung on Tuesday's counting of votes cast by Italians living overseas. Prodi's coalition claimed four of the six seats, giving it the necessary margin for victory, but official results hadn't been released.
Final returns on Tuesday showed Prodi winning the lower Chamber of Deputies by one tenth of a percentage point - 49.8 to 49.7 per cent.
Under Italian electoral law, 55 percent of seats are awarded to the overall winner regardless of the scale of victory, giving Prodi's forces 340 seats in the 630-member lower house.
All eyes were on the Senate, however, which Prodi also needed to win to form a government.
The razor-thin margins raised the prospect of a political crisis in which the two claimants might each control a different house of parliament.
According to official returns, Berlusconi's conservative allies held a one-seat advantage in the upper Senate, with 155 seats to Prodi's 154.
But while the votes cast abroad were being counted, Prodi's co-ordinator for Italians living abroad, Franco Danieli, said the coalition had won four of the six seats.
"There are conditions to create a government and to govern, even if the country is divided in two," centre-left leader Piero Fassino said on a radio programme.
dailymail.co.uk
