Italy's supreme court has confirmed Romano Prodi's victory over Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in last week's general election.
Confirmation of the victory ends days of political stalemate and clear the way for centre-left leader Mr Prodi to form a government next month.
Romano Prodi in downtown Rome today. Photo: Reuters
Mr Berlusconi has refused to concede defeat, alleging widespread irregularities and saying he hoped checks on disputed ballots would overturn the provisional results.
The Interior Ministry said last week there were not enough disputed ballots to swing victory to the media tycoon, but some of Mr Berlusconi's allies have since complained about other aspects of the election, including how the centre-left vote was tallied.
The supreme court has not addressed those issues which means the centre-right might yet try to overturn the official results in subsequent legal action. This could be a lengthy process and would be unlikely to prevent Mr Prodi from taking power.
However, most of Mr Berlusconi's allies have shown no taste for a prolonged legal dispute and are preparing instead to provide fierce opposition to Mr Prodi in parliament.
Even after the court's verdict, Italy faces weeks of political limbo as a new government is unlikely to be appointed before the second half of May.
Under the constitution, it is the head of state who gives the election winner the mandate to govern, but President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi - whose term expires on May 18th - has indicated the task should fall to his successor.
The new parliament, together with regional representatives, will pick a successor to Mr Ciampi next month.
According to preliminary Interior Ministry data, Mr Prodi's coalition won in the lower house by just 24,000 votes. But thanks to new rules introduced by Mr Berlusconi last year, the centre-left will have almost 70 more seats than the centre-right in the 630-seat lower chamber. In the Senate, however, it will just have a two-seat majority.