Prodi: We have won
Prodi: We have won
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Tuesday, 11, Apr 2006 05:26
Romano Prodi has insisted that his centre-left coalition has claimed victory over Silvio Berlusconi's conservative alliance in Italian parliamentary elections, despite his opponent's continued refusal to recognise his success.
Mr Prodi's coalition won a narrow victory in the lower house of parliament, gaining 49.8 per cent of the vote against 49.7 per cent for Mr Berlusconi's centre-right coalition.
Projections suggest that the centre-left coalition is also set to claim four of the six seats still to be counted in the senate, giving it a majority in the upper house and thereby confirming the victory.
And this has prompted Mr Prodi to declare victory, with the challenger telling reporters in Rome this lunchtime: "I was elected. There is no other option."
He added that he was aiming to form a united democratic government as soon as possible and would govern in the interests of all Italians, regardless of their political allegiance.
"We will govern the whole of Italy, not only those who have voted for us but also those who have not voted for us," Mr Prodi said.
"We expect the opposition will represent its positions in a democratic [manner]."
However, Mr Berlusconi and his supporters are refusing to recognise Mr Prodi's victory and appear certain to contest the election results until they are definitively confirmed.
Industry minister Claudio Scajola, a member of Mr Berlusconi's cabinet and a staunch ally of the prime minister, earlier today condemned Mr Prodi's decision to declare victory before all the results in both the senate and the chamber had been declared.
"This is intolerable. What is this? A coup? It reminds me of South America. Auto proclamation [of victory] is constitutionally illegitimate," Mr Scajola said.
Because both houses of parliament have equal power under Italy's political system, one bloc must secure victory in both houses in order to form a government.
Mr Berlusconi, a media magnate and Italy's longest-serving prime minister since the second world war, was seeking to win a third term under a coalition headed by his Forza Italia party and which included the former neo-fascist National Alliance, pro-Vatican forces and the anti-immigrant Northern League.
The 69-year-old billionaire has been in power since 2001, but Italy's economy has been stagnant over much of his tenure, allowing the opposition to tap into public concerns about the rising cost of living.
Mr Prodi, 66, previously served as Italy's prime minister following an election triumph in 1996, but his period in office proved shortlived when disgruntled communist allies ousted him after just two years.
If victory is confirmed, the former European commission president, whose mild-mannered style contrasts with the flamboyance of Mr Berlusconi, will form a governing coalition of moderate Christian Democrats, greens, liberals, former communists and communists.
Italy's new government is not expected to take office for at least a month because parliament must first nominate a successor to Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, whose seven-year term of office ends in May.