By IRNA,
Rome : Billionaire conservative former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is on track to become Italy’s next leader after his center-left rival Walter Veltroni Monday conceded general election defeat.
The antics of charismatic billionaire Silvio Berlusconi have endeared him to Italian voters in the past.
Incomplete election results show Berlusconi, 71, with a commanding lead in both houses of parliament.
Veltroni, who recently stepped down as mayor of Rome, delivered a concession speech live Monday night on Italian television.
Berlusconi, a charismatic center-right billionaire who served two terms as prime minister, and Veltroni were the two main contenders among 32 candidates vying to replace Romano Prodi, who stepped down as prime minister in January.
The new prime minister will lead Italy’s 63rd government since the end of World War II. Arcane electoral laws giving many small parties in parliament a disproportionate amount of power are blamed in part for the frequent collapses of the nation’s governments.
Berlusconi of the People of Freedom Party, was prime minister from May 1994 to January 1995 and again from April 2005 to May 2006.
He then narrowly lost a re-election bid to Prodi.
Berlusconi ran his campaign with his trademark bravado, arguing he is the only one who could give Italy the future it needs.