Berlusconi: OUT!!

Yes, finally, one of the most arrogant, reviled and corrupted politicians to ever reach the highest levels of power in Italy has lost his grip on power when today Romano Prodi announced his victory in the just-held parliamentary elections.

The win for Prodi was razor thin, but a win nonetheless. And this means that a second close ally of Bush in his oil/vengeance-war in Iraq was ousted (after Aznar lost to Zapatero in Spain), leaving only Blair in his post among the Western European countries steadfastly supporting Bush's illegal war (and he probably won't be able to finish his term -- or run for another one).

Berlusconi is calling for a recount and will probably invoke anything he can to hold on to his seat, but his days are counted. And I'm sure he's mostly afraid he won't be able to escape his legal troubles like he did in the past, by passing new laws that retroactively covered his rotten ass.

Anyway, Prodi's coalition won the lower chamber, which determines the Prime Minister with 49,805% versus Berlusconi's 49,739% of the vote. The difference is tiny indeed: 25,224 votes; Prodi got 19,001,684 votes, Berlusconi 18,976,460. Talk of a nail biter.

As for how the seats went (there are complex seat assignments following a new electoral law), Prodi's coalition got 158 in the Senate (plus 1 independent that sides with them, so really 159), while Berlusconi's coalition has 156.

In the lower chamber, Prodi has 341 vs. 277 seats. A wide enough margin to ensure his victory, whatever Berlusconi says (and he's apparently saying a lot... I wonder what Bush would say about his behavior; I mean, what if Gore or Kerry behaved the same way!!)

In the end, however, Italy is deeply, deeply divided in half, just like the US in the past two elections and Germany a couple months ago. It's going to be hard to govern, no matter who's in charge. And it never is easy in Italy, given all the parties (that is, heads) that want a piece of the cake.

But today is a day for celebration. Berlusconi is OUT!!