Silvio Berlusconi's rival conceded defeat Monday after exit polls indicated the former prime minister and media mogul was leading Italy's elections in both upper and lower parliamentary houses.

Centre-left opponent Walter Veltroni, a former mayor of Rome, said on Italian television that he called Berlusconi, 71, to congratulate him on his victory, adding the result is clear even though the final results are not in yet.

Ballots are counted at the closing of a polling station in Rome on Monday.
(Alessandra Tarantino/Associated Press)

Berlusconi, who was in his villa near Milan, didn't provide immediate comment, only waving as he passed in his car. But his spokesman, Paolo Bonaiuti, said he was "calm and happy."

Italians were voting Monday for their 62nd government since the Second World War in the second and final day of a parliamentary election.

The first exit polls gave the edge to Berlusconi and Italian television networks were projecting that he would win with a slightly larger than expected margin of victory.

Before Veltroni's announcement, RAI state television projected Berlusconi's Conservative bloc would win 163 of 315 Senate seats, compared with 141 seats for Veltroni's Democratic party and allies.

In the lower house, which has 630 seats, projections showed Berlusconi's bloc was leading by a margin of seven per cent over Veltroni's bloc, or 46 per cent of the vote to 39 per cent.

Under Italy's system, premiers must have control of both houses to govern.

Berlusconi has twice before served as Italy's prime minister. He was tried on corruption charges during his second term, from 2001 to 2006. He was acquitted in one case and judges ruled that other charges against him were too old to be valid. Berlusconi had denied bribing judges while a business executive in the 1980s.

Veltroni campaigned on a promise to run a clean government and to steer clear of the ideological politics that many Italians say contributes to the instability of their governments.

The election comes three years earlier than expected, after the collapse of a government headed by socialist Romano Prodi. Italian governments are almost always a coalition of larger and smaller parties that invariably suffer from the differing ideologies and personalities of their members.

Turnout on Sunday, the first day of voting, was down slightly from previous parliamentary elections.

Opinion polls indicated a volatile electorate that is worried about the state of the economy and scandals like the recent scare about tainted mozzarella cheese.

Man eats ballot

Many Italians told journalists that they were fed up with politics and politicians, and didn't care who won the latest vote.

"I'm not sure if I'm going to vote," Carlo Brunetti, 47, told the Associated Press in Rome. "I have little faith this time."

A businessman in the southern town of Sorrento was given a ticket by police after he tore up his ballot paper and ate it as a sign of protest.

With files from the Associated Press