Media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi is set to become Italy's next prime minister after his center-right coalition won Sunday's general election.
The coalition yesterday won an absolute majority of seats in an election for Italy's upper house of parliament, the Interior Ministry reported.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The ministry said Berlusconi's House of Freedoms alliance had secured 163 seats in the 315-seat Senate with 35 seats still to be counted. There are also nine unelected life senators so 163 seats have to be secured for an absolute majority.
Release of the partial official results removed any doubt that the Berlusconi bloc might not capture the Senate after earlier figures suggested a tight race in the upper house. Projections indicated that the center right would comfortably sweep to victory in the lower house of parliament.
It was not immediately clear if Berlusconi would be dependent on the Euroskeptic, anti-immigrant Northern League in the Senate, a factor causing a ripple of concern in financial markets.
The outgoing center-left Olive Tree coalition, led in the bitterly contested campaign by former Rome mayor Francesco Rutelli, had captured just 110 Senate seats, the ministry reported.
Preliminary results in the 630-seat lower house Chamber of Deputies, gave the House of Freedoms 245 seats and the Olive Tree 158.
A coalition must secure a majority in both houses before President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi can give it the mandate to form Italy's next government -- the 59th since 1945.
Voting was extended to ensure Italians still waiting in queues at the 10pm deadline could vote.
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