Italy is expecting a period of prolonged political instability, following a general election in which voters delivered a resounding rebuff to austerity policies with little hope of any party mustering a governing majority.
Politicians in the centre-left alliance were hopeful of a majority of seats in the legislature’s lower house but were likely to be denied control of the Senate, where the centre-right coalition led by Mr Berlusconi, the former prime minister, was projected to gain a few seats more but not enough to control a majority.
Mr Berlusconi’s centre-right party appealed to the interior ministry late on Monday night not to declare a winner in the contest for the lower house. Angelino Alfano, People of Liberty secretary, said the result was within the “margin of error” and therefore “too close to call". “It is impossible to declare a winner of this election”, Mr Alfano said, demanding a review of the results.
The final outcome of the lower house vote is crucial as the coalition with the largest number of votes is automatically given a premium guaranteeing it 55 per cent of the seats. The election’s outcome provided scant reassurance for Italy’s European partners, which want a stable government in Rome to pursue the economic reform course mapped out by the outgoing prime minister Mario Monti, the former EU commissioner who took power in 2011 at the helm of a cabinet of technocrats.
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