Allies of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi distanced themselves from his
claim of widespread vote-rigging in Italy's general election, as Britain and
Germany joined in recognizing Romano Prodi's victory in the polls.
Berlusconi has refused to concede defeat to his rival's centre-left coalition
ahead of a recount, but an initial scrutiny of the ongoing review of contested
votes suggested late Thursday the result would not be overturned.
The recount was close to a conclusion and the votes were being divided
equally between the rival coalitions, the ANSA news agency reported.
Prodi's Union said in a statement that the recount "is demonstrating the
validity of the poll result."
Berlusconi, who initially demanded a recount of 43,000 contested votes after
Prodi won, called for a wider check of returns from all 60,000 polling stations,
as well as more than one million votes deemed invalid.
"The result must, and will, change because there has been endless vote
rigging in different places, all over Italy," said Berlusconi after meeting
President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi late Wednesday.
Italian newspapers said the prime minister had hoped to get Ciampi to sign a
decree extending the recount to include more than a million spoiled votes, but
Ciampi is believed to have refused.
Berlusconi has kept up a barrage of electoral fraud allegations and refused
to concede defeat for his centre-right government ever since the results Tuesday
showed Prodi as the narrow winner.
But the 69-year-old prime minister appeared increasingly isolated Thursday
after key allies publicly raised doubts over his claims.
"Berlusconi can take our word for it: the Left won so it should govern," said
Roberto Maroni of the Northern League.
Maroni, welfare minister in the outgoing government, dared the centre-left
"to govern if it can. Our aim is to devise means by which to ensure that such a
government falls as soon as possible."
Another of the prime minister's allies, Lorenzo Cesa of the Christian
Democrat UDC party, said of the recount: "I don't believe it will change the
outcome of the election."
Prodi pressed ahead with talks with his coalition partners on forming a
government, and sought to give an impression of a smooth transition to power.
He said that after Berlusconi's latest fraud allegations he had made a
late-night phone call to Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu, whose ministry was
responsible for overseeing the vote.
"Relax, and have a good Easter," Prodi said Pisanu had told him.
"The situation seems calmer, because I know there's nothing to worry about.
We need patience, but in the end, this is democracy," he told journalists.
Pisanu issued an appeal for calm as the stalemate which has plunged the
country into political uncertainty headed into a fourth day Friday.
In a statement, Pisanu defended his ministry's supervision of the disputed
polls and called on political parties to show "a shared sense of responsibility"
to avoid damaging the country's democracy.
Meanwhile, Britain, Germany and Brazil joined the growing number of countries
acknowledging Prodi's election victory.
Prodi's office said he had received congratulatory phone calls Thursday from
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Brazil's
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
However, there were none yet from US President George W. Bush -- an ally of
Berlusconi -- and Pope Benedict XVI.
Prodi's admission Wednesday that Italy will have to wait until May for a new
government has done little to quell the growing sense of a political crisis.
Economists warned the stalemate would do little to help Prodi's incoming
centre-left government to kick-start an ailing economy.
"It's not a good start for the new government," said Bank of America
economist Matthew Sharratt.
Raj Badiani, economist with Global Insight, said the standoff would have "no
immediate impact" on the economy but could affect recent positive consumer and
business confidence figures if allowed to drag on.
The situation is complicated by the fact that Italy's president, whose duty
it is to swear in the new government, ends his seven-year term of office on May
18. Ciampi, 85, has said he wants his successor to do the swearing in.
The first task of the new parliament, which is due to convene on April 28,
will be to elect the new president.
Prodi squeaked into power by a margin of 25,000 votes in the lower house
Chamber of Deputies, where a bonus system under Italy's electoral law
automatically gives his Union coalition 55 percent of the seats regardless of
the margin of victory.
The Union also has a two-seat majority in the upper house Senate.
The results are considered provisional until Italy's supreme court, the Corte
di Cassazione, rules on their validity.
Italian media said a ruling was not expected before next week.