Berlusconi hanging on in Italian election cliffhanger

THE fate of Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s longest-serving premier since World War Two, hung in the balance last night as vote projections from parliamentary election returns swung dramatically back and forth.

After a campaign dominated by economic issues, projections based on 98% of pollster Nexus’ sampling of votes cast gave the flamboyant billionaire’s centre-right alliance 158 seats in the Senate compared to 151 for challenger Romano Prodi’s coalition. But with a margin of error of one to three percentage points and six seats chosen by Italians voting abroad unaccounted for, the Senate majority was far from assured.

For the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house, 89% of the voting sample gave Mr Berlusconi’s alliance 49.8% to 49.7% for Mr Prodi’s coalition. No seat breakdown was given.

The projections giving Mr Berlusconi a narrow lead in both houses came just hours after exit polls predicted a slim parliamentary victory for Mr Prodi.

With such uncertainty, politicians from both camps appealed for restraint until final results were in.

“All day long we have called for caution and prudence,” said Sandro Bondi, a top official in Mr Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party. “We have to wait for real results.”

“We are in the moment of the maximum uncertainty,” said Communist leader Fausto Bertinotti, a member of Mr Prodi’s coalition.

Mr Prodi postponed a news conference, and his aides said the centre-left leader would not make any statement until the vote count was final. Turnout was about 84%.

The Senate and lower chamber of parliament have equal powers, and any coalition would have to control both in order to form a government. Both centre-left and centre-right leaders have said if neither side controls both houses, new elections should be called.

Even with a slim majority in parliament’s houses, one of the two coalitions would officially win. But it would find it extremely difficult to pass legislation.