ITALY: Romano Prodi was last night officially declared the winner of Italy's general election, nine days after polling stations closed.
His opponent, Silvio Berlusconi, who has challenged Mr Prodi's right to form the next government, made no immediate acknowledgement of defeat. Economy minister Giulio Tremonti, a senior figure in Mr Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, said the centre-right was not yet ready to acknowledge Mr Prodi's victory.
By contrast, one of the outgoing prime minister's allies, Lorenzo Cesa, congratulated Mr Prodi and said he hoped he would run the country "in the interests of Italy and the Italians".
Italy's highest appeals court and supreme electoral authority confirmed that the centre-left Union had won a hairline majority of 24,755 votes for the lower house of parliament, 469 fewer than originally announced.
Piero Fassino, the leader of the Left Democrats, the biggest party in Mr Prodi's coalition, said he hoped the right would now stop challenging the outcome.
Mr Prodi, a former EU Commission president, claimed victory after the initial count gave him a majority in both houses in the April 9th-10th ballot.
Mr Berlusconi contested the outcome in the chamber of deputies, where his right-wing alliance lost by a mere 25,224 votes.
He and his allies called for a re- examination of some 43,000 ballots reported as contested. Regional electoral committees decided, however, that the number of genuinely uncertain votes was much lower and not enough to alter the outcome. Last night's announcement confirmed their findings.
Mr Berlusconi's allies have limited themselves to querying the accuracy of the preliminary results. He has proposed a left-right "grand coalition" along German lines.
The conservative House of Freedoms alliance was the victim of an electoral law passed in the dying months of Mr Berlusconi's government. In the upper house, the senate, the right won a significant majority of votes, more than 400,000, yet took two fewer seats because of a system of regional bonuses imposed by the act.
The legislation transformed the centre-left's tiny majority of votes for the chamber of deputies into a 67-seat majority.
Roberto Calderoli, one of the leaders of the Northern League and the architect of the electoral law, yesterday submitted to the court of cassation an appeal centring on the votes cast for one of the smaller regional parties in the opposition alliance. It was rejected within a few hours.
Other right-wingers have called for a review of alleged irregularities in the overseas vote. Again because of legislation introduced by Mr Berlusconi's side, Italians living abroad were given an allocation of seats in both houses of parliament.
Despite last night's announcement, it will be weeks before a new government can be formed.
It is up to the head of state to name Italy's next prime minister, but the term of President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi expires in mid- May and he has said he wants to leave the task to his successor.
Taoiseach: Warm welcome
"I would like to offer Romano Prodi my warmest congratulations on the victory of his coalition in the Italian general election. During my time as Taoiseach, I have had the pleasure of working with Romano both during his previous period as Italian prime minister and from 1999 to 2004, when he presided over the European Commission.
I particularly recall his help and wise counsel during Ireland's presidency of the European Union, when we collaborated closely together.
Ireland and Italy enjoy very warm bilateral relations, and I am writing to the prime minister-elect to say how much I look forward to working with him again. I am sure the European Union as a whole will also benefit from his considerable experience as we face the many challenges ahead."