Italy's supreme court has confirmed Romano Prodi's razor-thin victory over Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in last week's general election, an Italian television news channel said on Wednesday.
The Sky TG24 channel gave no source for its report and Prodi said he would not comment until after official confirmation. The court, which had been widely expected to make such a declaration later in the day, said official results of the April 9-10 ballot would be known only after 6 pm (1600 GMT). Confirmation of victory would end days of political stalemate and clear the way for centre-left leader Prodi to form a government next month.
Berlusconi has refused to concede defeat, alleging widespread irregularities and saying he hoped checks on disputed ballots would overturn the provisional results, which put Prodi's bloc ahead in the lower house by just 25,000 votes.
The Interior Ministry said last week there were not enough disputed ballots to give victory to Berlusconi, but some of his allies have since complained about other aspects of the election, including how the centre-left vote was tallied.
Northern League member Roberto Calderoli said on Wednesday he had lodged an appeal with the supreme court, demanding that about 45,000 votes be subtracted from the centre left's total because they were from a party that stood in only one district.
The supreme court has not addressed Calderoli's and others' claims, meaning the centre right might yet try to overturn the official results in subsequent legal action.
Under the constitution, the head of state gives the election winner the mandate to govern, but President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi has indicated the task should fall to his successor, who will be elected by parliament and regional representatives on May 12-13.
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