Prodi wins Italian elections - officially

6.30.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 19th Apr 2006

Romano Prodi

Although I had already declared him the winner Italy's Supreme Court has now confirmed Romano Prodi as the winner of the country's general election. The Court of Cassation said the centre-left leader had won the lower house of the Italian parliament against the prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's conservatives by a margin of around only 24,000 votes.

It had previously been announced that Mr Berlusconi had won the popular vote for the Senate, but Mr Prodi gained a two-seat majority due to a complicated system of bonuses.

The prime minister had refused to concede defeat, claiming widespread irregularities in the vote. There were another 3,100 contested ballots in the Senate. That number is not expected to change the result, according to preliminary reports.

Berlusconi has still not conceded defeat...