IT WAS a night of extraordinary reversal of fortunes. At 9pm RAI, Italian state television, opened its main election-night show with the headline “So who has won?” It was still asking the same question three hours later.

After hours of confusion and delay, official results indicated a total impasse between Silvio Berlusconi and Romano Prodi.

With 97 per cent of the vote counted for the lower house, the Left was on 49.9 per cent, with the Right on 49.7 per cent.

In the Senate, with 98 per cent counted, the position was reversed, with Signor Berlusconi’s bloc on 50.1 per cent and Signor Prodi’s grouping on 49.1 per cent.

“Too close to call,” one Italian newspaper editor said in despair as his deadline approached.

Yet, earlier in the day, three exit polls indicated that Signor Berlusconi had been ousted from office after five controversial years, with a clear majority for Signor Prodi in the Lower House and a narrow majority in the Senate.

The atmosphere in the Prodi camp was one of cautious celebration, with plans for a party in Piazza del Popolo, one of Rome’s main squares.

Then, suddenly, the picture changed. Rumours, then results, confirmed that the two coalitions were dead equal in the Lower House. The atmosphere in the two camps went from jubilation to despair and back to jubilation. Signor Prodi’s Piazza del Popolo festa was suddenly off.

Nevertheless, at midnight, Signor Prodi told supporters that he remained confident: “We are full of hope.”

Bruno Vespa, a veteran RAI presenter, said that it had been “a truly incredible election night in which both sides won, lost and won again”.

The mood at the Prodi headquarters in Piazza dei Santi Apostoli plummeted as predictions changed.

By contrast, roars of delight went up at the offices of Signor Berlusconi’s Forza Italia round the corner in Via dell’Umilta (Street of Humility).

The two-day vote used proportional representation under an electoral law introduced by Signor Berlusconi in December in an apparent attempt to reduce the prospect of a centre-left victory.

The vote was seen as a verdict on Signor Berlusconi himself, and raised the question of whether he would remain in politics or return to his business empire.

The Prime Minister, 69, fought a combative and at times acrimonious campaign to stay in office. But many Italians were disillusioned by his management of the economy, which had left them worse off.

Signor Berlusconi was dogged by corruption allegations and accused of passing laws to benefit himself. He headed the longest-serving Italian government since the Second World War, but exit polls suggested that his Forza Italia party had slumped from 29 per cent in 2001 to about 20 per cent, a personal blow.

In a sign of the passions raised by Signor Berlusconi’s rule, the turnout was 83.6 per cent, exceeding the 81 per cent achieved in 2001.

If parliament is split, President Ciampi could name a caretaker government, ask the two leaders to negotiate a government of national unity — or call on the weary Italian electorate to vote again.

OFFICIAL RESULTS

Chamber of Deputies (with 97 per cent of vote counted)
Centre Left: 49.9 per cent
Centre Right: 49.7 per cent

Senate (with 98 per cent of vote counted)
Centre Right: 50.1 per cent
Centre Left: 49.1 per cent

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