Berlusconi disputes Prodi's slim victory at the Italian general elections, reports Samia Nkrumah from Rome Italy's centre-left coalition under Romano Prodi has emerged as the winner of both houses of parliament in one of the country's most dramatic and close election contests held on 9 and 10 April. Prodi's coalition known as the Union ( L'Unione ) won with a very slight majority, about 26,000 votes, in the Chamber of Deputies or lower house of parliament. Out of 630 contested seats the Union now controls 340 against the 277 seats of the House of Freedom ( Casa della Liberta ) led by outgoing Prime Minster Silvio Berlusconi. In the upper house of parliament or the Senate, the margin of victory is 159 against 156 for Prodi's coalition thanks in great part to the votes of the 1.1 million Italians living abroad. These have been the first national elections that included overseas votes which proved essential in sealing the final outcome. At the end of a long and tense night of vote counting, the headlines of various Italian dailies gave a good indication of an alarmingly divided country, split right down the middle. "Berlusconi, addio" said the centre-left, pro-Prodi daily L'Unita ; and "Prodi wins in the night" declared the left-leaning La Repubblica. While on the centre-right side, Il Libero wrote "Dead, dead mortadella" in reference to Prodi's Bolognese roots, the home of mortadella ; and "Pretending to have won," declared the pro-Berlusconi Il Giornale criticising Prodi's victory claim. While the former European Commission president appears very close to forming the next Italian government, there are few measures that have to be put in place before that can become a reality. Rigorous vote scrutiny and recounting will take place over the next two weeks. Equally important, after electing its two speakers, the two new houses of parliament now have to vote to either extend the mandate of Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi which expires in May or elect a new president. Analysts predict Ciampi will be re-elected, in which case he is likely to give a mandate to Prodi to try and form a new government. An alternative and less likely scenario is that re-counting could change the figures and therefore the republic's president, whoever that turns out to be, would give a mandate to a government of technocrats who would call for fresh elections in the autumn this year or in the spring of next year. The implications of these April 2006 national elections for Italy are quite complex. On one hand, this weekend's vote must be considered as a vote against Berlusconi. It is highly unlikely that he will be in a position to form another government no matter what ensues over the next few weeks. Ironically, this is despite the fact that Berlusconi's party, Forza Italia, emerged as the strongest single party in the elections. But Italy's continued economic malaise and lack of confidence in Berlusconi's government's ability to revive the economy have been strong factors in determining the indecisive outcome of the vote. Even the powerful manufacturers and entrepreneurs organisation, Confindusturia, has fallen out with the outgoing government over its failure to introduce the tangible economic reforms they had originally promised. The new voting system introduced by the Berlusconi government last December put full proportional representation in place in these elections. This has played a certain role in curtailing the centre-left's chances of obtaining a quick and clear Senate majority, according to centre-left critics. Nevertheless the fact remains that the centre-left won with a very narrow majority, a situation that augurs ill for its ability to effect any kind of radical change successfully. The incoming government cannot have an easy time given its small majority in parliament. Laws require approval from both houses of parliament before they are passed and therefore with such a slim majority, the task ahead of the new government becomes harder. Necessary economic steps to revive the stalled economic growth or straighten the high public debt will be hard to introduce with such a small majority for the government. In addition, the election results confirmed what many knew about the sharp divisions within Italy. The rich, industrial north clearly tends towards the centre-right while the centre of the country with its political and cultural clout favours the centre-left coalition. The south, which lags behind economically, remains unpredictable even though in these elections it has narrowly favoured the centre-left. Many centre-left supporters eventually celebrated in the countries' major centres well into the small hours of the morning. However, a spectre of gloom and impatience has clouded the atmosphere in these post-elections hours. In spite of this, though, there have been certain positive indications. One interesting outcome of the elections has been the exceptionally high turnout, about 84 per cent, well ahead of the 2001 national elections. Equally refreshing was the diverse composition of party lists reflecting an increasingly multicultural and multi-religious society. "A multicultural parliament with a touch of the foreign and a trace of colour," commented La Repubblica daily. A noticeable number of Italian citizens of African origin including North African countries, particularly Morocco and Algeria, have featured in party lists from both the centre-right and left. An Egyptian Farah Attala, a Catholic and consultant on the Middle East ran on a centrist list in the north of Italy. While it is too early to pinpoint the next government's composition, there are high expectations that technocrats and high-calibre and competent figures will occupy top posts rather than figures noted for their loyalty to party leaders. On the domestic front, the incoming government will have the job of mending fences with the powerful trade unions on one hand as well as with Confidustria. This should include the promised reduction in employers' tax payments to encourage competitiveness as well as the reform of labour laws in favour of employees. On foreign policy, both coalitions have promised a pullout from Iraq so that move is expected by the end of the year. With Prodi at the helm, there is likely to be a more Eurocentric approach that would contrast with Italy's rivalry with big European powers, especially France and Germany, under Berlusconi.
