WASHINGTON, April 11 (Xinhua) -- The United States declined on Tuesday to make comment on winner of the Italian parliamentary elections, but promised to work with new government of the country.

    "I think that there is still some open questions with regard to the election results, and I'm not doing to certainly pronounce any winners before there's an official result out of Italy," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

    However, McCormack said "We certainly look forward to working with whoever heads the government and whoever fills the seats in the Italian cabinet."

    Italians began voting for the two-day general elections on Sunday morning. Italy's center-left coalition leader Romano Prodi claimed on Tuesday victory in the parliamentary elections.

    The center-right coalition of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi refused to concede defeat on Tuesday in Italy's knife-edge election, demanding checks on spoilt voting slips and even a possible recount.

    Berlusconi has been a staunch ally of the United States in the Iraq war and Italy has now some 2,900 soldiers in Iraq. Enditem