Special Report: Italy's general election

    

Italy's centre-left coalition leader Romano Prodi flashes a victory sign as he speaks to journalists in Rome April 19, 2006. (Photo: Xinhua/Reuters)

ROME, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Italy's center-left leader Romano Prodi said on Wednesday that his government would work hard to win the trust of Italians who voted for the center-right.

    "We'll work for our electors but also to gain the trust of those who legitimately voted for the other coalition," Prodi told a news conference after the Supreme Court confirmed his coalition's slim electoral victory.

    He said his coalition had a "clear majority in the House" and a "sufficient margin in the Senate to sustain a stable government for a long time. "

    Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had not yet called him to concede defeat, but Prodi said: "I'll wait."

    Meanwhile, Mirko Tremaglia, the minister for Italians abroad, said that Prodi no longer had a two-seat majority in the Senate, according to local media.

    Tremaglia said that one of the four center-left union senators elected by Italians abroad had decided he would no longer back Prodi, but he did not reveal the senator's name.

    Tremaglia said that the number of the union's senators would drop from 158 to 157 if the senator switched sides, and that the center right would consequently have a matching number of 157 senators. Enditem

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