Onetime cruise-ship crooner Silvio Berlusconi once again sailed to victory in Italy's April 13-14, 2008, elections, after losing his office in 2006 to center-left politician Romano Prodi (who was felled by a no-confidence vote in January). Berlusconi's conservative People of Freedom Party bested Walter Veltroni's center-left ticket to clinch both the House and Senate with more than 80 percent voter turnout.
Berlusconi's alliance secured a strong victory in the House and Senate, buoyed by strong public dislike for Prodi. Exit polls showing a closer vote that the actual tally initially raised concerns about a hung parliament.
The results were:
Berlusconi's coalition: Chamber of Deputies (House), 46.82% (344 seats); Senate, 47.31% (174 seats)
Veltroni's coalition: Chamber of Deputies, 37.54% (246 seats);
Senate, 38.02% (132 seats)
Turning in an especially poor showing was the Left-Rainbow, a coalition of far-left parties and Greens led by Fausto Bertinotti, with just 3.08% in the Chamber of Deputies and 3.21% in the Senate -- not enough to qualify for parliamentary represenation. The results marked the first time since World War II that Communist deputies would not be in parliament.
Berlusconi faced a bevy of problems going into his third term such as Italy's economic downturn and the financial crash of airline Alitalia.
