Prodi coalition wins in contested election

ROME – Center-left economist Romano Prodi emerged the winner of Italy’s election by a razor-thin margin Tuesday, promising to form a strong government able to run a deeply divided country mired in economic stagnation. But Premier Silvio Berlusconi claimed voting irregularities and demanded a recount.

The dispute could usher in a period of uncertainty over the results, a process which could take weeks. The outcome of the election must be approved by Italy’s highest court, and it is up the president to give the head of the winning coalition a mandate to form a government

Even if the result is confirmed, prospects of a stable government under Prodi look cloudy at best. Many fear a return to the political chaos that has characterized Italian history since the end of World War II. There have been 60 governments in about as many years.

In addition to a weak popular mandate, Prodi would preside over a potentially unwieldy coalition. The center-left, while built on two mainstream parties, includes a mixed group of smaller formations ranging from Catholics to communists.

Prodi, a former Italian premier and European Union chief, played down the divisions within his coalition. He said previous governments have been weaker and called his alliance “politically and technically strong.”

“We have won after an intense battle, but we have a majority both in the Senate and in the lower house that allows us to govern,” Prodi said.

Berlusconi, a billionaire media mogul who has served as premier for the past five years, refused to concede defeat for his center-right coalition.

“Nobody now can say they have won,” he said.

The public statements by the two candidates capped a day of confusion after millions of Italians voted Sunday and Monday at the end of a bitter campaign.

Official results by the Interior Ministry showed Prodi’s coalition winning four of the six seats in the Senate elected by Italians living abroad, giving him the margin he needs to control both houses of Italy’s parliament.

In the 315-member Senate, official returns showed Prodi with 158 seats to 156 for the center-right, and one independent.

Prodi can count on a comfortable majority in the Chamber of Deputies, despite the narrowest of winning margins – 49.8 percent for his coalition compared to 49.7 percent for Berlusconi’s.

Thanks to a new, fully proportional electoral system pushed through by the conservatives against the center-left’s opposition, the winning coalition in the lower house gets at least 340 deputies, or 55 percent of seats, regardless of its margin of victory.

But with Prodi’s coalition winning the lower house by about 25,000 out of the 38 million votes cast, Berlusconi called for a recount.