God damn, this has been tight. Looks like a margin of less than 0.1% of the popular vote on an 83% turnout (via the Italy Magazine blog). Which only prompts the question, “what Italian in their right mind would want to see Berlusconi back in power?” I mean yes, he’s great entertainment value (from a distance), but really…

In any case, it may still not be over, despite excitement in the early hours of this morning – even after Romano Prodi has claimed victory for the centre-left coalition, Tobias Schwarz at Fistful notes that with a margin of (apparently) just 25,000 votes, Berlusconi could demand a recount, which could well take the rest of the week…

Meanwhile, full-on lefty Lenin (the name’s a clue, you see?) analyses what a centre-left Prodi victory could mean for Italy (he’s not overly optimistic), while Italian in London Davide Simonetti looks at the wider implications.

More later, if I get a chance and things get finalised…

Update: Good stuff on the possible implications from Paul Davies at Make My Vote Count, and also over at Crooked Timber.

Wednesday update: Another good post-match analysis, plus a very handy statistical overview and explanation of the insanely complex Italian electoral system, complete with maps and diagrams (via).