Photo Gallery Berlsconi Triumphs Again
Silvio Berlusconi has won an unprecedented third term as Italy's prime minister after his center-right coalition won a clear majority in both houses of parliament.
Berlusconi's bloc succeeded in winning over 45 percent of the vote. The major loser was Walter Veltroni, the former mayor of Rome, who had hoped to shift public opinion away from Berlusconi.
The 71-year-old media mogul secured a clear majority in both houses, which should allow him to push through his program in the new parliament
Voters went to the polls on Sunday and Monday.
Here, Roma soccer player Francesco Totti leaving the voter's booth. Turnout was down 3 percent on the last national vote in 2006.
Eighty-two percent of elligible voters turned out. Here, election workers began counting votes on Monday.
A representative of Berlusconi's center-right coalition observed the results at a polling place in Milan.
Lawmakers from the center-right Freedom Party celebrated the victory of Berlusconi's coalition in Rome on Monday night.
Veltroni was dogged by public dissatistaftion with his predecessor on the left, former Prime Minister Romano Prodi, whose government collapsed in January.
Veltroni had marketed himself as a "completely new" political product. In the end the rebranding wasn't enough.
Fausto Betinotti, a leader of Italian Communists, resigned after his Rainbow Left party was delt a strong defeat in the election. For the first time since 1945, there will be no Communists in the Italian parliament.
Berlusconi previously served as prime minister in 1994 and again from 2001 to 2006, a five-year term plagued by allegations that he abused his political power and private wealth to his own gain.
