By Crispian Balmer

ROME, Apr 27 (Reuters) Italy's parliament reopens tomorrow following this month's general election and will provide an immediate litmus test of Romano Prodi's ability to control his tiny majority.

Attention will be fixed on the upper house Senate, where Prodi's centre-left coalition enjoys just a two-seat advantage and faces an awkward vote to elect a speaker for the chamber.

Political analysts warn that if Prodi fails to carry the ballot it will signal his inability to guarantee political stability and might open the way for swift new elections.

By contrast, newspapers have reported that if his coalition overcomes this hurdle with ease, President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi might agree to appoint Prodi prime minister within days rather than weeks, as previously expected.

Outgoing prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has refused to recognise Prodi's victory in the April 9-10 election, has put forward 87-year-old veteran politician Giulio Andreotti as his candidate for the prestigious Senate speaker post.

Andreotti, who served as prime minister on seven occasions and once stood trial for alleged Mafia collusion, is a life senator and a canny choice by Berlusconi because he has sympathisers tucked away within the centre-left camp.

Prodi has put forward moderate Senator Franco Marini as his candidate. The centre-left has a 158-156 majority over the centre-right in the Senate, but there are seven life senators and an independent -- who can vote as they please.

Early indications suggest Marini will win, perhaps as soon as Friday evening, but Berlusconi has not given up hope.

''The battle for Palazzo Madama (Senate) seems to be decisive and is perhaps the prime minister's last chance to prove that neither side won the April 10 election,'' Il Messaggero newspaper wrote on Thursday.

PROBLEMS MOUNT Prodi has kept a low profile since the election, and is busy selecting a cabinet, but the problems are already piling up, with signs the budget deficit is out of kilter and worries about Iraq after a bomb killed three Italian soldiers on Thursday.

The centre-left leader is not due to receive an official mandate to form a government until parliament elects a new president in the middle of May.

Ciampi's seven-year term expires next month and he wanted his successor to appoint Prodi, but concerns over a prolonged power vacuum might persuade him to do the job himself.

Some Italian newspapers reported that Prodi, a former head of the European Commission, would have his cabinet line up ready by Saturday just in case Ciampi accelerated the timetable.

As many as eight women could be included in his team, a record for Italy. But the top jobs will be reserved for men.

Former European Central Bank board member Tommaso Padoa Schioppa is tipped to become economy minister, former prime minister Massimo D'Alema is likely to become foreign minister and former Rome mayor Francesco Rutelli has first call on becoming interior minister.

REUTERS CH BST1927