Editing Romano Prodi (section)

===Italian 2006 general election===
After having won the centre-left primary election, Prodi led The Union coalition in the [[2006 Italian general election|2006 election]]. The Union was a heterogeneous alliance, which was formed by centrist parties like [[Union of Democrats for Europe|UDEUR]] and communists like PRC and [[Party of Italian Communists]].

Prodi led his coalition to the electoral campaign preceding the election, eventually on 9 and 10 April won by a very narrow margin of 25,000 votes, and a final majority of two seats in the [[Senate of Italy|Senate]]. Initial exit polls suggested a victory for Prodi, but the results narrowed as the count progressed.  On 11 April 2006, Prodi declared victory;<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4897994.stm Centre-left claims Italy victory], [[BBC News]]</ref> Berlusconi never conceded defeat explicitly but this is not required by the [[Italian law]].

[[2006 Italian general election#Results|Preliminary results]] showed The Union leading the House of Freedoms in the [[Italian Chamber of Deputies|Chamber of Deputies]], with 340 seats to 277, thanks to obtaining a majority bonus (actual votes were distributed 49.81% to 49.74%). One more seat is allied with The Union ([[Aosta Valley]]) and 7 more seats in the foreign constituency. The House of Freedoms had secured a slight majority of Senate seats elected within Italy (155 seats to 154), but The Union won 4 of the 6 seats allocated to [[#Vote abroad|voters outside Italy]], giving them control of both chambers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/04/11/italy.elections/index.html |title=Berlusconi refuses to concede |website=[[CNN]] |access-date=11 April 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060412121023/http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/04/11/italy.elections/index.html |archive-date=12 April 2006}}</ref>

On 19 April 2006, Italy's [[Court of Cassation (Italy)|Supreme Court of Cassation]] ruled that Prodi had indeed won the election, winning control of the Chamber of Deputies by only 24,755 votes out of more than 38 million votes cast, and winning 158 seats in the Senate to 156 for Berlusconi's coalition. Even so, Berlusconi refused to concede defeat, claiming unproven fraud.