Official Returns: Italian PM Defeated

Official results from Italy's Interior Ministry show that Romano Prodi has defeated Premier Silvio Berlusconi in Italy's election.

The Interior Ministry on Tuesday assigned Romano Prodi's center-left coalition four Senate seats chosen by Italians voting abroad, giving him the margin he needs to win both houses of Italy's parliament.

Data from the Interior Ministry's Web site assigned four of the six overseas seats to Prodi's Union coalition, one to Premier Silvio Berlusconi's conservative allies and one to an independent movement. The four seats gave Prodi's forces a total of 158 seats, the minimum necessary to have a majority in the Senate, compared with Berlusconi's 156.

Center-left challenger Romano Prodi had already claimed an outright electoral victory earlier Tuesday over Premier Silvio Berlusconi before official results were in, but the slim margin could return Italy to political paralysis and instability.

Berlusconi refused to concede and was calling for a recount in the lower Chamber of Deputies, where final results gave Prodi's coalition a razor-thin margin.

"Nobody now can say they have won," Berlusconi said.

Earlier, Prodi told a news conference his government would have "constructive relations" with the United States and predicted that financial markets would "welcome with favor" his leadership.

He said he was not concerned about Berlusconi's recount call and conceded his margin was thin. But he denied that the country was "split in half," saying previous governments have been weaker and declared his coalition "politically and technically strong."

Prodi told reporters at his headquarters that his would be a government for all Italians "even those who didn't vote for us."

"Today we turn a page," he said. "We leave behind the sourness of long and difficult electoral campaign. We need to start immediately to repair the tears that were produced in the country."

He said his coalition could govern for a full five-year term.

Berlusconi's camp remained quiet, with the premier convening top allies at a meeting at his Forza Italia party's Rome headquarters.

Under Italian electoral law, 55 percent of seats are awarded to the overall winner regardless of the scale of victory, giving Prodi's forces at least 340 seats in the 630-member lower house.

Prodi claimed victory well before the Senate figures were in, saying in the early hours: "Until the very end we were left in suspense, but in the end victory has arrived."

"We have won, and now we have to start working to implement our program and unify the country," he told supporters.

Prior to the announcement of the official results, Berlusconi's spokesman, Paolo Bonaiuti, contested the victory claim and called for a recount in the lower house, saying the difference in the Chamber amounted to less than 25,000 votes.

"Such a narrow difference demands that there be a careful verification of the vote count," he said.

For hours after the vote ended Monday, projections and returns swung dramatically back and forth between the two coalitions, and without the vote from Italians living abroad, the election's outcome remained unclear. Voter turnout was about 84 percent.

The vote followed a bitter election campaign in which the two main contenders traded personal insults, CBS News' Sabina Castelfranco reports.

"These results mean the country is divided in two. There needs to be a provisional government for a few months then new elections," said Marco Piva, a banker from Padova, as he took the train into work. "This is the worst result that we could have had."

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

Even if one coalition controls both chambers, it would find it extremely difficult to pass legislation with such a slim majority, returning Italy to instability after Berlusconi's five years in power.

If parliament is split between the two coalitions, the president could try to name a government of technocrats at least until another election can be held. He could also seek to fashion a coalition of left and right, but that seemed unlikely, considering the bitter divisions among Italy's political parties.

Berlusconi, a 69-year-old media mogul who is Italy's longest-serving premier since World War II, was battling to capture his third premiership with an often squabbling coalition of his Forza Italia party, the former neo-fascist National Alliance, pro-Vatican forces and the anti-immigrant Northern League.

The 66-year-old Prodi, a former premier and EU chief, was making his comeback bid with a potentially unwieldy coalition of moderate Christian Democrats, Greens, liberals, Communists and former Communists.

Italians were mainly preoccupied with finances. Berlusconi, a billionaire businessman whose empire includes TV networks, insurance and real estate, failed to jump start a flat economy during his tenure, but promised to abolish a homeowner's property tax. Prodi said he would revive an inheritance tax abolished by Berlusconi, but only for the richest; he also promised to cut payroll taxes to try to spur hiring.

During his tenure, Berlusconi had strongly supported President Bush over Iraq despite fierce Italian opposition to the war. Prodi said he would bring troops home as soon as possible, security conditions permitting. But the issue was largely deflated before the campaign began when Berlusconi announced that Italy's troops there would be withdrawn by year's end.