Sepcial Report: Italy's general election

    ROME, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi Tuesday rejected center-left leader Romano Prodi's claim to have won the Italian general elections.

    Although preliminary results showed Prodi had won victory in both houses of parliament, the center-right premier told a press conference that the count was too close with widespread alleged voting irregularities, and demanded a review of disputed ballot papers.

    "We won't hesitate to recognize the outcome of the vote as soon as there is definitive judicial clarification," Berlusconi said, adding "(but) until that day, no one can say they have won."

    Earlier in the day, Prodi claimed victory in the Sunday/Monday vote after the tally showed his coalition had squeaked past the center-right.

    In the Lower House, the center-left won 49.8 percent compared to the center-right's 49.7 percent, a margin of just some 25,000 votes.

    The center-right initially appeared to have won the Senate. But on Tuesday morning, results from the votes cast by Italians resident abroad swung the chamber marginally in Prodi'sfavor, leading the former European Commission chief to declare victory.

    Four of the six Senate seats decided by Italians abroad will be given to Romano Prodi's center-left coalition that assures the center-left victory, the Italian Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.

    But the center-right is demanding checks on spoilt and disputed voting slips and even a possible recount.

    Berlusconi said the ballot slip data showed "many, too many dark sides." But he refused to give details, and only said the votes from Italians living abroad in particular showed "many irregularities".

    He said that if the result was a hung parliament, with the center-left dominating the House and the center-right the Senate, then "perhaps we should consider joining forces and governing together".

    "We have to reason in terms of unity," he said, airing the possibility of a German-style broad-based coalition.

    The opposition issued a statement in response saying that "it is serious to insinuate that the election outcome has been falsified, altered or manipulated and reveals the will to subvert the real order of the facts, namely the indisputable victory of the center-left." Enditem