Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's hopes of overturning his election loss were dashed on Friday when it emerged there were not enough disputed ballot papers to swing victory back from his rival, Romano Prodi.
Berlusconi refused to concede after the centre-left opposition won a razor-thin majority in the April 9-10 election, demanding a check of "disputed" ballots - papers on which the voting intention was deemed unclear by scrutineers.
But after four days of political stalemate, the Interior Ministry said the number of ballots in question for the lower house of parliament was 2,131, not enough to overturn Prodi's 24,000-vote majority.
The ministry said in a statement it had made a mistake when it initially estimated there were 43,028 disputed ballots. "We were right. The Interior Ministry has finally ended the charade by Berlusconi and (his party) Forza Italia," the biggest party in Prodi's coalition said in a statement.
"We hope that the prime minister and his party will now recognise the outcome of the election in a responsible way and stop delegitimising the vote of Italians," the Democrats of the Left said.
However, a defiant Berlusconi told a crowd of supporters shouting "Silvio! Silvio!" outside his Rome residence: "We are carrying on. We will resist." Centre-left officials said the next step would be an official confirmation of the election results by the Court of Cassation, Italy's highest court for legal appeals.
That is not expected to come before next week at the earliest, a court official said earlier on Friday.
Berlusconi's office declined comment on the Interior Ministry statement, but pointed out that all election data were still "preliminary" ahead of the official court confirmation.
Berlusconi said earlier this week the result "must change" due to what he called "widespread fraud" but most of his allies have shown no taste for a recount.
Nonetheless, some hard-core supporters maintained hope that the tenacious media tycoon could somehow prevail.
Mirko Tremaglia, the minister for Italians abroad, said Italy should re-run the election among overseas voters - whose support enabled Prodi to snatch a narrow victory in the upper house - because 10 percent had not received ballot papers.
Prodi, who has been seen smiling and relaxed in his northern home town of Bologna, has already received congratulatory calls from foreign leaders, including those of France and Germany.
Even before the official announcement on the small number of contested ballots, Prodi was confident. "As was obvious, the review (of the ballot) hasn't made any difference. The victory is confirmed," he said on Friday.
Berlusconi has suggested that, given the closeness of the result, Italy's sharply divided left and right should form a "grand coalition" - something the centre left has rejected outright, arguing it had the mandate to govern on its own.
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