[JURIST] The Italian Court of Cassation [official website, in Italian] on Wednesday confirmed [statement, DOC] that Romano Prodi [campaign website, in Italian], former Italian prime minister and head of a center-left coalition, was the winner of the disputed April 9-10 general elections [JURIST report; BBC Q/A] over current Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi [official profile; JURIST news archive]. The court certified the results after judges reviewed the validity [JURIST report] of more than 5,000 provisional ballots, though the court's announcement was not unexpected as preliminary results [in Italian] from the Italian Interior Ministry [official website] put Prodi ahead by as many as 24,000 votes.

Berlusconi had refused to concede the election [BBC report], saying there had been polling irregularities. His regime has been marked by scandal, with an indictment for corruption [JURIST report] last month and charges of false accounting [JURIST report] and bribery [JURIST report] last year in connection with the media business that Berlusconi's family owns. Berlusconi has always maintained his innocence, claiming that the charges are politically motivated. BBC News has more.