Romano Prodi, who has claimed victory in Italy's general election, said on Wednesday that Premier Silvio Berlusconi would not be successful in his dispute of the outcome.
Addressing members of the foreign press in Rome, the centre-left leader said that "I have no fear of the figures being overturned. It is a completely untroubled victory". Berlusconi has challenged Prodi's claim to have won the April 9/10 election and is demanding checks on spoilt and disputed voting slips and even a possible recount.
He has also talked of "irregularities" but refused to give details.
Prodi told the foreign journalists that "it's curious for Berlusconi to raise these doubts when the Interior Ministry is under his control, he controls the data and everything else. He obviously doesn't trust himself and is having an identity crisis".
In the House, the centre left won 49.8% compared to the centre right's 49.73%, a margin of just some 25,000 votes, while its majority in the Senate rests on two seats. The number of disputed slips for the Senate is 39,822 while the number for the House is 43,028, according to Interior Ministry figures.
Berlusconi, a billionaire media magnate, said on Tuesday that "we won't hesitate to recognise the outcome of the vote as soon as there is definitive judicial clarification. Until that day, no-one can say they have won".
He said there were "too many murky aspects" surrounding the count, particularly that of Italians resident abroad who were entitled to vote for the first time in this election. Berlusconi's coalition initially appeared to have won the Senate but the later addition of votes cast by the Italians abroad swung the chamber marginally in Prodi's favour, leading the former European Commission chief to declare victory.
Berlusconi even said the expat vote might have to be "declared void".
