Sepcial Report: Italy's general election

    ROME, April 11 (Xinhua) -- The center-left coalition slightly led in Italy's lower house election over center-right, showed the latest figures released by the Italian Interior Ministry on Tuesday Morning.

    The center-left coalition led by former European Commission President and former Prime Minister Romano Prodi garnered 49.8 percent ofvotes in the lower house election, while Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's center-right coalition netted 49.7 percent, the Italian national television RAI reported, citing the Interior Ministry's figures.

    Under Italy's new electoral rules, Prodi's coalition will take 340 seats in the 630-member lower house of parliament.

    Earlier Tuesday, Prodi claimed victory for his centre-left coalition in a vote for the lower house of parliament.

    "Today, we have turned a page. We will always be united. We will govern for five years," Prodi told his supporters from a stage outside the headquarters of his Union coalition in central Rome.

    The outcome of a Senate race was still uncertain. Nearly complete results released by the Interior Ministry showed that 155 Senate seats went to Berlusconi's coalition, compared to 154 for Prodi's forces. But still to be counted were results for six seats elected by Italians abroad.

    But Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's coalition on Tuesday disputed Romano Prodi's claim to have won Italy's general election.

    Berlusconi's spokesman Paolo Bonaiuti said the centre-right bloc would call for a "scrupulous" check of election ballots. Enditem