Italy's Prodi set to win election - exit polls

ROME, Apr 10 (Reuters) Centre-left leader Romano Prodi looked on course to beat Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in Italy's general election, exit polls showed today, as voters punished the government for failing to revive the economy.

Prodi's alliance was set to win between 50 and 54 per cent of the vote in both the lower and upper houses of parliament, giving it a working majority in the two chambers, a poll by the Nexus research institute said.

Berlusconi's centre-right bloc was shown winning 45 to 49 per cent of the vote according to the poll, broadcast by state television RAI after voting ended in the two-day election.

''This is a result of historic proportions,'' said Massimo D'Alema, a former prime minister who is president of the largest centre-left party, the Democrats of the Left.

Under the terms of Italy's electoral system, the coalition which emerges ahead in the 630-seat lower chamber is automatically assigned a winner's majority of 340 seats.

In the 315-seat Senate, the winner's majority is assigned on a region-by-region basis.

Official results are due by the end today.

Prodi's centre-left alliance, which stretches from Roman Catholic centrists to communists, had led in opinion polls for the past two years, benefiting from widespread voter discontent over the stagnant economy and rising cost of living.

Berlusconi, Italy's richest man who created the country's biggest media empire, dominated the often ill-tempered election campaign with a string of outbursts, gaffes and last-minute promises to cut taxes.

Centre-right leaders reacted cautiously to the exit polls, but one veteran politician from Berlusconi's bloc said they had no chance of regaining power.

''Undeniably the centre left has won and I think that it was the left part that won, more than the centre,'' said Francesco D'Onofrio, a senator from the centrist UDC party.

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