Another Bush ally bites the dust

Prodi Wins; Berlusconi Not Conceding Yet By MARIA SANMINIATELLI, Associated Press Writer 10 minutes ago Challenger Romano Prodi's center-left coalition won the Italian parliamentary election, official results showed Tuesday, but Conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi refused to concede defeat. The Interior Ministry assigned Prodi's coalition four Senate seats chosen by Italians voting abroad, giving him the margin he needs to win both houses of Italy's parliament. But shortly afterward, Berlusconi said: "Nobody now can say they have won." Final returns had already given Prodi's coalition — an unwieldy alliance ranging from Catholics to communists — the lower Chamber of Deputies, although Berlusconi's forces had already contested that result. The ministry stressed the results must still be confirmed by Italy's highest court, and that parliament's election committees would have to rule on any challenges. Prodi told a news conference that his government would be "politically and technically" strong, rebutting concerns about his slim margin of victory and concerns that it would be too weak to enact necessary reforms to bring Italy out of its economic slump. The former European Commission president also said his government would put Europe at the center of its policies. "This is a profoundly European result, and as I said, Europe will be the center of the policy of my government," Prodi said, also promising "constructive relations with the United States." Prodi was strongly opposed to the U.S.-led war in Iraq, while Berlusconi supported Washington and sent 3,000 troops after the ouster of Saddam Hussein. Italians were mainly preoccupied with finances when they cast their ballots Sunday and Monday. Berlusconi, 69, a billionaire whose business empire includes TV networks, failed to revitalize a flat economy but promised to abolish a homeowner's property tax. Prodi, 66, said he would revive an inheritance tax abolished by Berlusconi, but only for the richest; he also promised to cut payroll taxes. Late Tuesday, Berlusconi said the overseas vote that decided the final Senate seats was far from decided, saying there were "many irregularities and it's possible that we won't be able to confirm that it has been a valid vote." "We won't hesitate to recognize the political victory for our adversaries, but only once the necessary legal verification procedures have been completed," he said. Berlusconi's camp had already called for a recount in the Chamber of Deputies, which Prodi's forces won with a 25,000 margin among the 38 million votes cast. Prodi said he was not concerned about the recount call, although he conceded that his margin was thin. But he rebutted the idea that the country was "split in half," saying previous governments have been weaker and declared his coalition was "politically and technically strong." He said he wouldn't install a new government until parliament names a new president in early May. In Italy, the president gives the winner the mandate to form a new government. President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi's term expires next month. Prodi said his government would be for all Italians, "even those who didn't vote for us." "Today we turn a page," he said. "We leave behind the sourness of long and difficult electoral campaign. We need to start immediately to repair the tears that were produced in the country." Earlier, he told reporters his coalition could govern for a full five-year term. Final returns Tuesday for the lower Chamber of Deputies showed Prodi winning by one-tenth of a percentage point: 49.8 to 49.7 percent. Under Italian electoral law, 55 percent of seats are awarded to the overall winner, regardless of the scale of victory, giving Prodi's forces at least 340 seats in the 630-member lower house. But Sandro Bondi, coordinator for Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, contested 43,000 of the votes cast. He did not elaborate. "Let's wait for the final, definitive results," Bondi said. In the Senate, the Interior Ministry assigned Prodi's coalition four of six seats chosen by Italians voting abroad. The tally gave Prodi a total of 158 seats to 156 for Berlusconi, leaving Prodi the minimum necessary to claim majority the house. The ministry assigned the seats on its Web site, even though full returns from overseas polling stations weren't fully tabulated. "There are conditions to create a government and to govern, even if the country is divided in two," center-left leader Piero Fassino said on a radio program Tuesday. Prodi claimed victory well before the Senate figures were in, saying early Tuesday: "Until the very end we were left in suspense, but in the end victory has arrived." "We have won, and now we have to start working to implement our program and unify the country," he told supporters. For hours after polls closed Monday afternoon, projections and returns swung dramatically back and forth between the two coalitions, and without the vote from Italians living abroad, the election's outcome remained unclear. Voter turnout was about 84 percent. "These results mean the country is divided in two. There needs to be a provisional government for a few months, then new elections," Marco Piva, a 49-year-old banker from Padua, said on his way to work. "This is the worst result that we could have had."