Italian elections 2008

Berlusconi sweeps back into power

Article published on the 2008-04-11 Latest update 2008-04-15 08:45 TU

Silvio Berlusconi at his last campaign meeting in Rome on 10 April 2008.
(Photo: Reuters)

Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will return to office for a third term as voting closes across Italy Monday, according to partial Interior Ministry results. Berlusconi's coalition received 46.4 per cent while Walter Veltroni's Democratic Party received 38 per cent with full results expected later in the evening.

Berlusconi, who was Italy's high-profile prime minister in the 1990s, took advantage of voter discontent with the left-wing coalition led by Romano Prodi and took control of both the Senate and the lower house of parliament.

Though results weren't yet official, Veltroni conceded defeat.

"As is the custom in all Western democracies, I telephoned Berlusconi to acknowledge his victory and wish him good luck in his work," he said at his campaign headquarters.

Veltroni's centre-left Democratic Party will, however, become Italy's largest single party - winning almost one in three votes - but not enough to defeat Berlusconi's centre-right coalition between the People of Freedom Party and the North League.

Since World War II, Italy has had more than 60 governments. A complex electoral system and an abundance of parties means that results are difficult to predict and large parties are often forced to form alliances with smaller ones.

Berlusconi's terms in the 1990s were among the longest-serving governments in Italian history.