Berlusconi verliest in regionale verkiezingen van alliantie-prodi (en) - Hoofdinhoud

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was severely defeated in regional elections (3-4 April).

According to the first estimations, Mr Berlusconi's centre-right coalition appears to have lost at least nine of the 13 "key" regions at stake, and six of the eight regions it controlled.

This would give Romano Prodi i 's opposing coalition power between 13-15 of the 20 Italian regions.

The centre-left coalition also obtained more overall votes (52.3 per cent) than the centre-right (44.1 per cent).

The elections are being seen as an indicator of public feeling for the general elections to be held in 2006.

"Today we have easily won in terms of the number of votes and the number of regions", ex-Prime Minister and former European Commission President Romano Prodi was reported saying.

"With this vote Italians are asking us to prepare to govern to take the country forward".

Antonio di Pietri, a Member of Parliament from the opposition, has said Mr Berlsuconi should resign, instead of "prolonging the agony one more year".

But the Prime Minister had excluded this probability even before the opening of the polls.

A "breakdown"

Mr Berlusconi had prepared his supporters for a relatively bad result, given the economic status in Italy, which is on the verge of recession.

The centre-right appears to have lost three populous regions (Piedmont in the north, Lazio in the centre and Puglia in the south) seen by parties and experts as the most important.

Francesco Storace, the centre-right president of the Rome region Lazio, had said before the vote that "if we lose Lazio, Berlusconi's successor can only be Prodi".

"The centre-left have won at regional level, but the battle at national level has not taken place yet", Fabrizio Cicchitto, a spokesman for Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, was quoted as saying.

Social Affairs Minister Enrico La Loggia has argued that "this was not a referendum on the Berlusconi government", according to French daily Liberation.

The death of Pope John Paul II on Saturday overshadowed the elections, but the turnout still reached 71.4 percent (more than 40 million Italians), down just 1.7 percentage points from the previous regional elections.

The region Basilicata, held by the centre-left, will vote on April 17-18.