ITALY: Italians wake up to uncertain future as Prodi claims Italy election win amid dispute.

Record ID: 872616

  • Title: ITALY: Italians wake up to uncertain future as Prodi claims Italy election win amid dispute.
  • Date: 12th April 2006
  • Summary: WIDE OF HOUSE
  • Embargoed: 27th April 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • City:
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA9K9S1U6MG29ZDOU0TJSMW0991
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  • Story Text: Italians woke up on Tuesday (April 11) to a day of uncertainty as opposition leader Romano Prodi claimed a knife-edge victory in general election, but Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition disputed the result and demanded a review of the count.
    "Divided country", "Neck-and-Neck" and "Split down the Middle" were the headlines used in most mainstream newspapers to describe the vote, the closest election in modern history.
    Official data showed that in the lower house Chamber of Deputies Romano Prodi's centre-left had taken about 49.80 percent of the vote compared with
    73 percent for Berlusconi. Prodi's winning margin was around 25,000 votes, a tiny fraction of Italy's 47 million eligible electors.
    The close result revealed deep splits at the heart of Italian society and raised doubts over whether the country could be governed effectively.
    "The left are claiming victory, it may be a tiny victory in numbers but it is not a political victory," one voter said.
    Many referred to the bitter campaign proceeding the vote.
    "We are very happy, we got him (Berlusconi) by his balls at last," Flavia, a resident of Rome said.
    Under Italy's new electoral system, the ballot winners are automatically granted 340 of the lower house's 630 seats no matter how small their margin of victory in the popular vote, with the runners up getting some 277 seats.
    Centre-right politicians said the vote was too close, with up to a half a million spoilt and annulled ballots. Counting for the upper house Senate was also not yet complete, they said.
    They said the tiny margin of about 25,000 votes necessitates a scrupulous checking of the counting and tally sheets.
    A re-evaluation of the spoilt ballots could unleash political chaos in Italy, evoking the 2000 U.S. presidential election, which ended in a bitter recount battle in Florida.
    Berlusconi himself has not yet commented on the results.
    The next government is not expected to take office for at least a month, with Berlusconi set to stay on in a caretaker capacity until parliament nominates a successor to President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, whose mandate expires in May.
    The president must name the new prime minister and Ciampi says he wants to leave the task to his successor.
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