City polls hand power to Italian left

President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi casts his vote in Rome

ROME, Italy -- Italy's left-wing opposition has beaten off a strong challenge by prime minister-elect Silvio Berlusconi in mayoral elections, taking many key city halls as well as two provinces.

Helped by support from the Communist Refoundation Party, centre-left candidates held on to control of Rome, Turin and Naples in Sunday's run-off ballots.

In the most visible sign that Berlusconi's victory in May 13 general elections was by no means a landslide, Walter Veltroni, the number two of the former communist Left-wing Democrats, defeated former Berlusconi spokesman Antonio Tajani in the battle for Rome, with 52.2 percent of the votes against 47.8.

Sunday's second round of voting was held in 77 Italian cities and provinces.

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More than six million people out of a total population of 57 million -- both Italians and some residents from EU countries -- were eligible to vote.

Overall, the centre-left took 10 provincial capitals, compared to nine for the conservatives, and three provinces while the conservatives won two.

In the northwest industrial heartland of Turin, centre-left candidate Sergio Chiamparino, 53, won 52.8 percent to keep the city on the left for a third consecutive term, edging out lawyer Roberto Rosso, 44.

In the southern port city of Naples, Rosa Jervolino, 53, a centrist five-times government minister, took 52.9 percent of the vote to beat Antonio Martusciello, 39, a former manager at Berlusconi's advertising firm Publitalia.

While the centre-left took Turin, Rome, Naples, Rimini and the two northern provinces of Mantua and Lucca, several other cities did go to the centre-right including Benevento and Rovigo.

Milan was easily won by the centre-right incumbent in the first round two weeks ago while Berlusconi's House of Freedoms alliance won in Rovigo, near Venice, and in Benevento in the south.

Left is 'alive and strong'

The poor showing of rightist candidates despite Berlusconi's personal involvement in the final days of the campaign prompted the influential newspaper Corriere della Sera to comment on Monday that while it "is no tragedy, it is not a good start for the legislature, either."

With trade unions already criticising his government agenda, the newspaper La Repubblica said that Berlusconi "should be more cautious given the outcome of the local polls."

Berlusconi had said before the election that his list was already complete and would contain high-profile politicians of remarkable intelligence.

The run-offs were necessary after candidates failed to secure conclusive majorities in the first round on May 13.

Rome's outgoing mayor Francesco Rutelli, who was beaten by Berlusconi on May 13 and who served as chief of the Eternal City for eight years, said: "We can start again from here.

"We've shown that the centre left is alive and strong, we represent half the country and we have won in the big cities.

"We will conduct a serious, credible, proud and provocative opposition."