Italy's highest court made its decision regarding the recount of ballots cast 10 days ago and confirmed that Romano Prodi's center-left coalition won against Berlusconi's conservative alliance by a tiny margin. "The election is finally over," Prodi said during a news conference.

"Italians no longer have any doubts about our triumph." Berlusconi hoped the check on the ballots will overturn the provisional results, but it seems that there are not enough disputed ballots in order to turn the results around.

Some of Berlusconi's allies have complained about other aspects of the elections, including how the centre-left vote was tallied, while others were ready to move on. The Union of Christian Democrats accepted the court's decision and congratulated Prodi.

Another member of the coalition, the far-right Northern League, also admitted its defeat. The Court of Cassation confirmed Prod has won by 24,755 votes in the lower parliamentary Chamber of Deputies, a margin less than 1/10 of 1%.

Nearly 38 million votes were cast, the count being only about 500 votes closer than results certified last week by the Interior Ministry. Several thousand ballots remain contested but they are not enough to overturn Prodi's victory. "We must press ahead with our efforts to create a strong government," Prodi concluded.

Even though the new government will not be formed before late next month, Prodi has been holding daily meetings with constituents to give the image of a of decisive and promising leadership. The new parliament will choose the new president in the second week of May, after President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi's term ends May 18.