Rome: According to at least three exit polls, Italy's Centre-Left coalition led by the former Prime Minister and E.U. Commission President, Romano Prodi, inflicted a crushing electoral defeat on outgoing Premier Silvio Berlusconi and his conservative alliance The House of Freedom. Official results will be made available in the early hours of Tuesday but political analysts and pollsters indicated that was little possibility of this trend being reversed.

Early results indicated that the conservative coalition had won between 40 to 45 per cent of the vote, while Mr. Prodi's centre-left alliance was tipped to win between 50-54 per cent for both the lower Chamber of Deputies and the Senate or upper house.

Prodi camp cautious

According to the complicated system of proportional representation, the number of seats a party wins depends upon the votes it has polled. The largest parties are then awarded extra seats to ensure stable government.

"We are still very cautious but if these indications are confirmed that would mean that Italy had decided to turn the page and begin a new era," said a spokesman at Mr. Prodi's campaign headquarters.

A big victory party had been planned, but at 3 p.m. local time as the first exit poll results came rolling in, leaders and supporters decided to adopt a cautious attitude. "We do not wish Italy to live through what the U.S. did during the Gore versus Bush campaign and declare victory too soon," said party worker Maria Rosa.

"I am delighted he has been booted out. He has brought this country to its knees. Which other country in Europe has registered a zero growth rate in 2005? All his glitzy promises came to nothing," said economics student Roberto Fazi jumping up and down with joy.

Among Mr. Berlusconi supporters the mood was despondent. Senator Paolo Guzzanti of Mr. Berlusconi's Forza Italia party told journalists: "Our coalition has lost the elections. We expected something like this because we've lost every [local' election since 2001." Mr. Berlusconi made no immediate comment, though the exit polls forecast a collapse of the Forza Italia vote, giving it between 20-23 per cent, as against 29.4 per cent it took when he swept to power in 2001.

Twenty-eight year old Forza Itala worker Andrea has been working himself flat out 18 hours a day canvassing, distributing leaflets, gadgets and other propaganda material. "You could see the hate the left supporters harbour towards him. He has done so much good for the country, for businesses but people just do not want to admit it," he told The Hindu . The majority of Italians however, do not appear to concur.

In the final weeks the campaign got increasingly tougher with a desperate Berlusconi upping the ante. He appeared to have lost control of himself, insulting left wing voters, making wild allegations against Communist leaders such as Mao, Lenin and Castro.

Political analysts now say the composition of the future government will depend on the number of seats won by the various parties of the Prodi alliance.

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