Sepcial Report: Italy's general election

    ROME, April 28 (Xinhua) -- A vote to elect a speaker for Italy' supper house of parliament, which handed victory to an ally of prime-minister-in-waiting Romano Prodi, was annulled on Friday and a fresh ballot was ordered.

    According to Italian television, Italian centre-left candidate Franco Marini garnered 162 votes, the number equivalent to the absolute majority required in the 322-seat Senate as Senate Speaker.

    But later the result was annulled because the error simile names as "Franco" and "Francesco".

    The next round voting will be held on Friday night.

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

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

    Prodi's Union coalition has a majority of only two seats in the Senate, with 158 to the centre right's 156. It is counting on the support of four of Italy's seven life senators and one independent from abroad.

    The Senate speaker is Italy's second-ranking official after the head of state. Enditem