Berlusconi promises new era for Italy

Billionaire Silvio Berlusconi has said a "new era" is beginning for Italy, after his conservative coalition last night won the country's general election.

In a statement handed out by his aides, he added: ‘‘I am convinced that you all feel the need for a Government that governs and of a premier who speaks less and works more and better.’’

After a closely contested and chaotic campaign, his rival Francesco Rutelli, the popular former Mayor of Rome, conceded defeat.

Berlusconi, whose business interests include the country’s three main private TV networks, went on his own channels as well as state TV to promise Italians he would keep his part a campaign ‘‘contract’’ to create 1.5 million jobs, drastically slash income taxes and increase pension payments.

Signing the contract with a flourish last week, Berlusconi had vowed to leave politics at the end of parliament’s five-year term if he does not deliver what he promised.

With his House of Freedoms coalition on its way to a comfortable majority in both legislative chambers, he could stand a shot at lasting the full term, a rarity in fractious Italian politics where tiny parties and shifting allegiances have brought down many of the 58 governments since the Second World War.

Rutelli blamed his defeat on the refusal of some leftists, including some Communists, to join him.

The centre-left promised ‘‘the most ceaseless and uncompromising opposition toward a right we don’t trust’’ to keep its promises, Rutelli told supporters at a Rome hotel.

In the final weeks of the campaign, Berlusconi weathered a barrage of critical scrutiny in the foreign media over potential conflict of interest because of his media interests and over an almost decade of corruption probes into business realm.