Elections in Italy : Berlusconi vs Prodi

[Melchior]

Does Italy have a Supreme Court that can steal the election for Berlusconi?

There is one, sort of, even if it doens't have that kind of power. Anyway, Mr.Berlusconi already stated that it was full of communists. Even if they could, they wouldn't be very eager to help.

[Tiriol]

I don't like Berlusconi much, his total domination of media can't be a good thing, and his attempts to avoid all corruption charges are infuriating. I'll do a little Dilbert engineer's victory dance once that monkey is gone from using his political position to protect his own financial interests.

[Bounty]

I'll do a little Dilbert engineer's victory dance once that monkey is gone from using his political position to protect his own financial interests.

Wasn't Berlusconi desperate to stay in power so he could keep waving the immunity card when questioned about his dubious business practices

[Bounty]

Berlusconi : "OMG H4X !!"

Centre-left leader Romano Prodi, who claimed victory in Italy's general election, has poured scorn on PM Silvio Berlusconi's allegations of fraud.

Mr Prodi said Mr Berlusconi's call for a review of votes was "extraordinary" because the prime minister had "made an electoral law for himself".

Mr Berlusconi wants the records of all 60,000 polling stations to be checked.

Mr Prodi was declared the winner of both houses of parliament - but by an extremely narrow margin.

Prime Minister Berlusconi, heading a centre-right coalition, voiced concern that there were more than a million spoilt and blank ballots in the election.

He said there had been "much fraud" in the poll, held on Sunday and Monday.

The United States said it would refrain from congratulating Mr Prodi until the end of the electoral process, which is likely to go to court.

Review of ballots

Election officials are now routinely checking about 43,000 contested ballot papers. The outcome of their check is expected later on Thursday or Friday.

Mr Berlusconi's government had pushed through an electoral reform last year which brought back full proportional representation. Critics said it increased the risk of unstable governments, characteristic of post-war Italy.

Mr Prodi, previously an Italian prime minister and president of the European Commission, said his victory would not be reversed.

"We won and it is useless for Berlusconi to try to delay it. Berlusconi must go home," he told supporters in his home town Bologna on Wednesday.

Mr Prodi said he had already begun talks on forming a new administration and tackling the Mafia would be an absolute priority.

However, no administration can be sworn in for another month, until parliament has elected a new president.

The current head-of-state, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, is due to step down and he has made it clear he wants his successor to preside over the change of government.

The new parliament is due to convene on 28 April and is not scheduled to vote on a successor to Mr Ciampi until 12-13 May.

Official results showed Mr Prodi had won just enough seats to control the Senate (upper house) after having already won a lower house majority.

The count gave Mr Prodi 158 Senate seats, against 156 for Mr Berlusconi.

Mr Prodi's coalition is thought to have won the vote in the Chamber of Deputies (lower house) by just 25,000 votes.

The electoral changes meant whoever won the lower house would automatically get a working majority there, even if the margin was small.

The interior ministry insists the results must still be confirmed by Italy's highest court, and that parliament's election committees would have to rule on any challenges.

The final results came after a nail-biting night of conflicting forecasts, based on exit polls and partial counts, which variously put the coalitions of Mr Prodi and his rival ahead.

The leader of the observation team from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Peter Eicher, said there appeared to be irregularities including "a very large number of blank, invalid or contested ballots".

He did not accuse either side, but said he also had misgivings about the late adoption of new electoral laws and unbalanced coverage by parts of the Italian media.

That last part is particularly telling - it was Il Duce The Lesser who pushed through the reform, and he owns nearly all of the "unbalanced" media.

[theski]

Does Italy have a Supreme Court that can steal the election for Berlusconi?

Let it go..

[Bounty]

The result stands

Romano Prodi looks set to be confirmed as the winner of Italy's general election after the number of contested ballots was drastically lowered.

The interior ministry said it had made an error and only 5,000 votes were being checked, instead of about 80,000.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has refused to concede to his centre-left rival until all final checks are made.

Our correspondent says even if all the contested ballots went to Mr Berlusconi the final result would not change.

Mr Berlusconi, who heads a centre-right coalition, had called for a review of votes, claiming there had been irregularities.

He voiced concern over more than a million spoilt and blank ballots in the election, and said there had been "much fraud" in the poll, held on Sunday and Monday.

It was initially announced that 43,028 ballots were being checked for the Chamber of Deputies (lower house) and 39,822 for the Senate (upper house).

But the interior ministry said on Friday that "the first provisional calculation of contested ballots was the result of a material error".

The correct amounts being counted were 2,131 and 3,135 respectively, it said.

Mr Prodi has claimed victory in the polls, after official results showed he had won just enough seats to control the Senate (upper house) after having already won a lower house majority.

The count gave Mr Prodi 158 Senate seats, against 156 for Mr Berlusconi.

He won the lower house by about 25,000 votes.

Regional party officials quoted in the Italian press say disputed ballots are being allocated equally to each side in roughly the same proportions as in the overall vote.

The BBC's David Willey in Rome says the lower number of contested ballots means the official result cannot now be switched back to a win for Mr Berlusconi.

Following the review of contested ballots, the provincial courts will routinely double-check the official written reports from all 60,000 polling stations, to ensure their vote tally corresponds to the results that local election officials reported by phone to the interior ministry.

Mr Berlusconi also alleged irregularities in the vote for the Senate - which was swung in Mr Prodi's favour by Italians voting abroad.

However, such was the margin in Mr Prodi's favour in the foreign constituencies, that correspondents say it seems unlikely any check can overturn the outcome.

The results are considered provisional until Italy's supreme court, the Corte di Cassazione, rules on their validity. This is expected to happen next week.

[kheegster]

Probably still a bit premature, but congratulations to all Italians. Unfortunately the split vote will make the country pretty hard to govern though.