Special Report: Italy's general election

    ROME, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Romano Prodi felt pressure at his first parliamentary meet on Friday after his center-left candidate Franco Marini failed to win the first vote for the speaker of the Senate.

    Prodi, who won a wafer-thin victory over outgoing prime minister Silvio Berlusconi in Italy's April 9/10 general election,had been hoping for the first-round election of his coalition's choice of speaker, Franco Marini.

    Marini garnered 157 votes, five short of the 162 absolute majority required in the 322-seat Senate.

    The 73-year-old centrist Catholic and former trade union chief is battling for the post against seven-time premier and veteran Christian Democrat statesman Giulio Andreotti.

    Andreotti, who is 87, won 140 votes while 15 votes went to Northern League heavyweight Roberto Calderoli.

    A further five ballots were left blank and four were declared void because of spelling errors. The four void ballots were all in favor of Marini, local media reported.

    Prodi's Union coalition has a majority of only two seats in the Senate, with 158 to the center-right's 156.

    If Andreotti were to prevail, it will increase Prodi's problems in the Senate and perhaps prevent him governing effectively. Some Italian political analysts say it could even open the way for new elections, the report said.

    The Senate will hold a second vote later on Friday, and if that fails to produce a winner then a third and final ballot will be staged on Saturday in which a simple majority only will be required.

    Meanwhile, voting was also under way in the House for that chamber's speaker. The Union has a 64-seat majority in the House, but a two-thirds majority is required there.

    The Union's candidate is hard-liner Fausto Bertinotti, who heads the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC).

    During the first round of voting, Bertinotti gained 305 votes against the absolute majority required of 420.

    The vote tally showed that 43 members of the center-left coalition denied Bertinotti their vote.

    A definitive vote outcome is not expected until this evening or Saturday, the report said. Enditem