Berlusconi: "Did you think you were about to be free of me?"

reuters: Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday denounced Italy's general election as fraudulent and said official results giving victory to his centre-left rival Romano Prodi had to be overturned.

Berlusconi has refused to concede defeat in the April 9-10 vote, and demanded a review of thousands of disputed ballots.

"The election result has to change because there was widespread fraud," Berlusconi told reporters after meeting President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi on Wednesday evening.

"Did you think you were about to be free of me?" he said, adding that the voting irregularities had been at the expense of his centre-right alliance. Read more