Prodi plans for power as Italy vote dispute rages(hanging chads)

Romano Prodi pushed ahead on Wednesday with preparations to become Italy's next leader, in defiance of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's refusal to concede defeat in the closest election in post-war history. Prodi planned to meet allies to discuss the details of taking over government after five years of Berlusconi, the media tycoon that he says he ousted at the ballot box on April 9 and 10. Berlusconi rejected Prodi's claim of victory and called for a check on disputed ballots in a vote that was won in the lower house by just 25,000 votes out of 38.1 million cast.

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HANGING CHADS
Prodi's victory declaration, made in the early hours of Tuesday, has been publicly acknowledged by France, Luxembourg and the European Commission. France's European Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna showered praise on Prodi, a man seen as more pro-European than Berlusconi who prides himself on his close relationship with U.S. President George W. Bush. "Trusting in your experience as president of the European Commission, I am convinced you will be able to play an essential role in the relaunching of Europe," Colonna said in a note.

But before any new Italian government can start to tackle the problems of a country with the world's third highest national debt pile and which is emerging from a year of stagnation, a period of political stalemate looks likely. Raising the prospect of an Italian version of the "hanging chads" debacle when the 2000 U.S. presidential election result was contested for weeks as ballot papers were recounted, Berlusconi insisted some of the votes be reviewed.

Among the possible problems were 43,028 "disputed" votes in the lower house count that official scrutineers had decided to annul despite their doubts as to whether the ballots had really been spoilt or not. He also said there were "many irregularities" in ballots from Italians living abroad -- the foreign votes that proved crucial in the Senate, enabling Prodi to claim his lead.

http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/international/ticker/detail/Prodi_plans_for_power_as_Italy_vote_dispute_rages.html?siteSect=143&sid=6624440&cKey=1144798699000

Will Scalia give the infamous hand-signal to the Italian Supreme Court to follow his lead ??