Berlusconi claims "political victory" in Italy vote

ROME, Apr 21 (Reuters) Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who narrowly lost last week's general election, said he won more votes than the centre-left and so its leader Romano Prodi must accept what he called his ''political'' victory.

Berlusconi, who has alleged voting fraud and has still not conceded defeat after the April 9-10 vote, said in a newspaper interview published today that Prodi should acknowledge he had at best won a hollow victory.

Italy's supreme court confirmed on Wednesday that Prodi had won the election.

But Berlusconi told Piccolo, the local newspaper of the northeastern city of Trieste, that the centre-right had won some 220,000 votes more than Prodi's bloc, if all votes cast in both houses of parliament and abroad were taken into account.

''It is therefore clear that the person who wants to be recognised as the winner for having got more seats ... must in turn necessarily recognise the centre-right's political victory in terms of votes,'' Berlusconi said.

Official figures show that Berlusconi's bloc won more votes in the Senate, but gained two seats fewer than the centre-left because the electoral system distributes seats on a region-by-region basis. Only people over 25 can vote for the upper house.

But in the lower house, where any Italian over 18 can vote, Prodi's coalition won by 24,755 votes.

Prodi's camp dismissed Berlusconi's consistent refusal to admit defeat. ''It's the final scene of the Knight falling awkwardly from his horse,'' said centre-left politician Franco Monaco, a reference to Berlusconi's nickname.

Berlusconi said Prodi should also acknowledge the fact that his Forza Italia (Go Italy) party had remained the largest political force at the election, with 24 per cent of the vote.

Prodi said yesterday it was ''very sad,'' that Berlusconi had still not acknowledged defeat but he was sure he would do so ''sooner or later''.

Reuters OM BST2202