After three days of bluster, doubt and recrimination, the fall of Silvio Berlusconi appeared complete this evening when the Italian Interior Ministry revealed that there were not enough disputed votes to alter the result of this week's election.

Signor Berlusconi was beaten by just 25,000 votes in Monday's election, which was won by the centre-left coalition of his longtime rival, Romano Prodi. The votes gave Signor Prodi control of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Italian Parliament. But early statistics suggested that there were 43,028 disputed ballots, enough to overturn the contest.

As a result, Signor Berlusconi refused to admit defeat, first asking President Ciampi, to order a recount, before calling on judges to check "one by one" at least 60,000 polling stations.

But today the Interior Ministry admitted that a "material error" had caused a wild overstatement of the number of disputed votes. In fact, there were just 2,131 unclear ballots for the lower house Chamber of Deputies.

The Ministry also revised the number of disputed votes for the Senate, which Signor Prodi carried with a majority of two seats, saying that only 3,135 were in dispute.

“The match is over,” said Signor Prodi, who is spending the Easter weekend in Bologna. “Now let’s move on.”

Signor Berlusconi, however, said he had no intention of conceding. “We carry on, we’ll resist,” he told a small group of supporters gathered outside his residence.

A spokesman at the Prime Minister's office said the results remained unofficial until they were confirmed by Italy's highest court, which is not scheduled to meet until next week.

Mirko Tremaglia, the minister for Italian expatriates in Signor Berlusconi's government, was one of the few members of the Right to continue the fight, saying that the overseas vote should be re-run because up to 10 per cent of voters did not receive their ballot papers.

Earlier today, as several Italian newspapers reported that the Interior Ministry had overstated the number of disputed ballots, members of Signor Prodi's coalition asked Signor Berlusconi to concede defeat, saying his protests were damaging the country.

"I want to invite the premier to lower his tone and stop what appears to be a real strategy of tension, an undermining of the electoral victory that increases the bitterness," Massimo D’Alema, a former Prime Minister and a leader of the Democrats of the Left party told Corriere della Sera.

Many political and financial analysts in Italy fear that the narrowness of Signor Prodi's victory will make it difficult for his coalition, already dependent on the support of Italy's communist and environmental parties, to push through much-needed economic reforms.

A long-drawn battle with the Right over the legitimacy of the election will only weaken the new Government further.

Signor Prodi, a former President of the European Commission, claimed his narrow victory on Monday night.

Since then he has received a slowly growing flow of congratulatory calls from world leaders. Among the first was Jacques Chirac of France but Tony Blair and President George Bush, both firm allies of Signor Berlusconi who appreciated his support for the Iraq war, were noticeably slow in recognising his victory.

But last night Mr Blair picked up the telephone. A statement from Signor Prodi's office said the two men held "a long, friendly and cordial conversation".

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