Four other regions, including Piedmont and the Lazio region which contains Rome, are too close to call. Besides the threat of a low turnout, the year-old prime minister also faced strong competition for votes in the industrial north from his coalition partner, the anti-immigrant Northern League.
World News Updated. His dreams of a stable, centre-left government in tatters, Bersani was left to ponder yet another spectacular comeback by the man every Italian pundit had written off. But on Monday evening there was no denying the obvious fact that the point lead Bersani enjoyed over Berlusconi's coalition at the start of the campaign had been completely wiped out.
How did the Cavaliere do it? With a relentless and hugely effective round of campaigning that combined his unrivalled media power with a handful of carefully selected proposals.
To the sceptics, Berlusconi said new taxes on gambling and a deal to repatriate some of the money held by Italians in Swiss bank accounts would compensate for the shortfall in state revenue. Never mind the fact that Italy was in no position to afford such reimbursements, that Switzerland made it clear it would take years to negotiate a deal, or indeed that Berlusconi's promise to take the money from his own companies should state funds not suffice essentially boiled down to buying people's votes.
Never mind the repeated trials including a conviction for tax fraud last October , the laws passed to protect himself and his businesses including the decriminalisation of false accounting , and the fact that he had become something of a joke around the world — except perhaps in Vladimir Putin's Russia.
And never mind the lurid campaign jokes about how often a girl would "come", the bunga bunga scandals , or the fact that he personally intervened in to have a year-old prostitute released from custody fearing she would talk about her relationship with him and then claimed he thought she was the niece of Egyptian President Hosni Moubarak.
Almost a quarter of Italian voters still chose his party, and nearly a third backed his coalition. But Italy's political landscape has changed dramatically since then, with Grillo's movement taking votes from mainstream parties on the right and the left. His fierce campaigning soon brought the PDL back into contention, but when secret polls released just days before the vote suggested his coalition might finish third behind Grillo's party, even the Cavaliere appeared to lose heart.
Then came the first exit polls at 3pm on Monday, pointing to a 6-point gap between Bersani's coalition and the centre-right, only for the actual vote count to prove the exit polls — and every survey before that — wrong. How could everyone's predictions have been so misplaced? But the latter is not running for office. In a way, his 'rocambolesque' relationship with EU authorities and Ms Merkel in the past also helps his case with Italian voters, as most of the country is skeptical of the EU," Filia said.
However, Berlusconi has joined forces with other right-wing parties ahead of the March 4 election , which puts him in a good position to overcome Renzi and potentially the Five Star Movement.
Some analysts have predicted a victory for Berlusconi's coalition, albeit without an outright majority. This means that he would have an important role in negotiating with other parties to form a stable government. Skip Navigation. Key Points. Silvio Berlusconi appears as a guest on the talk show ''L'aria che tira' television channel La7 on January 18, in Rome, Italy.
Silvio Berlusconi has been prime minister of Italy three times. VIDEO
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