Italian expatriate vote proved crucial for Prodi
After two days of indecision, Italian newspapers are now reporting that Italy's next prime minister will be Romano Prodi.
The centre left coalition led by former prime minister and European commission president Romano Prodi won what is being described as the closest elections in Italy's modern political history.
Join EUobserver today
Get the EU news that really matters
Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.
Choose your plan
... or subscribe as a group
Already a member?
"We have won a tough challenge" said Mr Prodi adding "but with a majority both in parliament and in the senate, we are able to govern with the coalition we presented for the elections".
Mr Prodi, whose left coalition won the election by just 25,000 votes, will replace controversial prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.
The centre left coalition won 49.8% of the votes for the lower house, to the 49.7 % won by Mr Berlusconi's centre right coalition.
But, thanks to the new electoral system, this minimal difference will mean 63 more deputies for Mr Prodi’s coalition.
Under the new electoral system, the winners of the election are automatically granted 340 seats out of the 630 seats in parliament.
The crucial expatriate vote
The expatriate vote was crucial for the centre left coalition to both upper as well as the lower house of parliament – with a majority in both houses making it much easier for Mr Prodi to govern.
After the national votes for the senate were counted, the centre right coalition was leading by just one seat, but the expatriate vote tipped the scales in Mr Prodi’s favour.
His coalition won four out of the six senate seats reserved for Italian expatriates. One seat went to Mr Berlusconi's coalition while the other seat was obtained by independent candidate Luigi Pallaro in South America.
Mr Pallaro has already declared that he will back the new centre left government.
This results in Mr Prodi's coalition having 158 seats (159 when Mr Pallaro is added) while the centre right won 156 seats.
\"Next step is to govern\"
Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, Mr Prodi said that the "next step is to govern."
"We can govern for five years even if it will be hard," said Mr Prodi.
"We will start working immediately to have a unique parliamentary group," he added.
Mr Prodi also remarked that peace and Europe will be at the centre of his government programme.
It is likely that a Prodi government will be more pro-EU than the Berlsuconi government has been.
During the electoral campaign, the centre-left coalition, which opposed the war in Iraq, vowed to bring Italy closer to its traditional European partners France and Germany
France and Luxembourg were among the first to comment on the results.
French European affairs minister Catherine Colonna was reported as saying that Mr Prodi will "play an essential role in the re-launching of Europe" while Luxembourg prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker remarked that Mr Prodi would be "very openly pro-European".
But Italian citizens are expecting important and much awaited economic reform from the new government, with the country’s economy having been sluggish under Mr Berlusconi.
Political analysts argue that the much awaited reform may be difficult to bring about due to the small majority Mr Prodi won in these elections.
But Mr Prodi insists, "with these results we can govern with tranquillity, although there must certainly be cooperation"
Prodi waiting for Berlusconi phone call
Due to the narrow difference in votes, prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and his allies are disputing the result and have called for a careful checking of the votes.
"The margin is under 25,000 votes. Such a tiny difference requires a scrupulous checking of the counting "said Paolo Bonauiti, a spokesperson for Mr Berlusconi.
Mr Prodi said that he is waiting for a phone call from Berlusconi to concede defeat "because this is what happens in modern democracies".