Backgrounder: Italy's general election

Profile: Berlusconi returns     

    ROME, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Italian media mogul Silvio Berlusconi won a decisive victory in general election, official results showed on Tuesday, sending him to the premiership for the third time.

    Berlusconi's center-right alliance took 168 seats in the Senate compared with 130 for center-left bloc led by his main rival, former Rome mayor Walter Veltroni, according to final results posted on the Website of the Italian Interior Ministry.

Italian PDL (Party for Liberty) centre-right leader Silvio Berlusconi votes at a polling station in Milan, northern Italy, April 13, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    In the lower house of Italy's parliament, or the Chamber of Deputies, Berlusconi took 46.8 percent of the vote compared with Veltroni's 37.5 percent, which would give Berlusconi 340 seats. Veltroni won 239 seats.

    The margin of lead was out of expectation. Analysts said the comfortable majority in both houses of parliament would allow Berlusconi more room to carry out economic and social reforms he promised during campaign.

    Once in office for the third time, Berlusconi will face an imminent task of saving a sluggish economy from recession, a major concern weighing heavily on most voters.

    The Italian economic growth has been under potential in recent years. In 2007, it was 1.5 percent, far below the euro zone average of 2.7 percent.

    The 2.4-trillion-U.S. dollar economy, the fourth largest in the European Union (EU), was projected to grow just 0.3 percent this year, according to a forecast by the International Monetary Fund earlier this month, the slowest among the more than two dozen "advanced economies."

A man casts his ballot at a polling station in Rome, Italy, April 13, 2008. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    Italy wrapped up a two-day election Monday, in which voters cast their ballots to decide the new national parliament and who will govern their country in the next five years.

    Of Italy's 58.2 million population, 47.3 million are eligible to vote for 630 members in the lower house and 43.2 million can vote for 315 members in the Senate.

    Under Italy's electoral system, voters cannot choose each parliamentarian candidate, but select from lists headed by 32 hopefuls for prime minister, of which 71-year-old Berlusconi and 52-year-old Veltroni were the two main contenders.

    Veltroni conceded defeat late Monday.

An elderly woman (R) gets her ballot at a polling station in Rome, Italy, April 13, 2008. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    "As is customary in all Western democracy, and as I feel it is right to do, I called the leader of the People of Freedom, Silvio Berlusconi, to acknowledge his victory and wish him good luck in his job," Veltroni told reporters.

    But he warned it would be difficult for Berlusconi to hold his three-party alliance together throughout the five-year term.

    Berlusconi's victory relied heavily on help from his allies, the Northern League and the Movement for Autonomy. The two small right-wing partners want to see powers devolved from the state to regions.

    "A season of opposition now begins against a majority that will have a hard time keeping together things that are difficult to keep together," Veltroni said, "I don't know how long this majority will last."

    Berlusconi, who has not made any public appearance for celebration till now, told a local television through phone that he was moved by the victory and prepared for a tough job ahead.

    "I feel a great sense of responsibility because the months and years ahead will be difficult ones," he said.