Italy faces a period of political uncertainty after center-left leader Romano Prodi won the elections by a razor-thin margin and Premier Silvio Berlusconi refused to concede defeat and requested a recount.

Romano Prodi's center-left coalition announced on Tuesday that it had won Italy's parliamentary elections after Italians residing abroad gave him four crucial seats in the Senate.

"Having won the election, with this result we can govern the country for five years," Prodi told supporters outside his political headquarters in central Rome.

"We're going to have to work hard," he added.

In the Lower House, Prodi's center-left coalition won 49.8 percent compared to the center-right bloc's 49.73 percent, a margin of just some 25,000 votes.

Analysts believe the elections, which have bitterly split the country, would make long-term prospects for Prodi problematic even if the result is finally confirmed.

The elections, which pitted Berlusconi, the longest serving prime minister in Italy after the World War II, against the former EU chief, has been the fiercest in the country's post-war history. Voter turnout reached 83.6 percent, a record high in 10 years.

Comparing with the 2001 elections where voter turnout was 81.4 percent, Berlusconi, the 69-year-old media tycoon, saw a dramatic fall in the seats garnered by his party coalition.

Unlike his moderate rival, flamboyant Berlusconi had a strong determination to win. However, many voters seemed unimpressed by his eloquence and promises on tax cuts, as he had failed to deliver many of his reform plans and tax pledges made in his campaign five years ago.

Meanwhile, many domestic and foreign policies pursued by the center-right government, including the decision to contribute troops to the U.S.-led forces in Iraq, have lost popular support.

Moreover, his unbridled attacks on rivals as well as some business owners, media and prosecutors during the election campaigns gave him a bad name.

Berlusconi has found himself in many cases challenged by the judicial department on issues concerning his handling of his business empire.

His leadership in the ruling coalition has also been challenged by leaders of his coalition partners, such as the right-wing National Alliance (AN) leader Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini and the Catholic UDC leader Lower House Speaker Pier Ferdinando Casini, which has somewhat eroded the coalition's unity.

In contrast, Prodi's mild, prudent and pragmatic approach has won him a lot of acclaims. His clear-cut campaign programs have touched problems such as economic growth, the workers' welfare and tax cuts.

The platform won support from millions of workers and their labor unions in the country.

However, the center-left's policy of cutting back on the welfares received by the low-income population in the country still lingers in some voters' minds, and they also blame the party for the price hikes when euro was introduced into Italy during its rule.

Italy now finds itself at a crossroads and the country needs a strong leadership to steer it out of crises, analysts said.

Berlusconi has proposed a "grand coalition" like that in Germany between the left and right, but Prodi dismissed the idea. "We went before voters with a precise coalition and the electoral law assigned us a number of lawmakers in the Chamber and in the Senate that allows us to govern," Prodi said.

Source: Xinhua