As the dust settled on Italy's election day-after, the full extent of the victory of the media tycoon, Mr Silvio Berlusconi, was still emerging. A long and complex electoral count ended only yesterday when the 25 per cent quota of lower-house seats was finally allocated.
The final figures for the lower house show that Mr Berlusconi's centre-right House of the Liberties coalition won 368 seats, 53 more than the absolute house majority and 118 more than the centre-left Olive coalition.
By late on Monday it had become clear that, with 177 Senate seats, Mr Berlusconi also had a comfortable upper-house majority, 19 more than the absolute majority.
The final count clearly underlines the extent to which Mr Berlusconi eliminated both rivals and allies alike. Not only was the Olive coalition seen off, but the success of his own Forza Italia party, at 29.4 per cent of the national vote, was also gained at the expense of his major coalition partners, the Federalist Northern League and ex-fascist Alleanza Nazionale (AN), respectively down from 10.1 to 3.9 per cent and from 15.7 to 12 per cent.
This predominance within his own coalition should greatly strengthen Mr Berlusconi's position when he takes over as Prime Minister early next month. Even if Mr Bossi's disgruntled Northern League tries to cause problems, it simply does not have the numbers to pull down the Berlusconi government, as it did in 1994.
Much attention will now focus on Mr Berlusconi's cabinet appointments. Mr Giulio Tremonti as Minister of Finance, Mr Claudio Scajola as Minister of the Interior, the AN leader, Mr Gianfranco Fini, as Deputy Prime Minister and Mr Marcello Pera as Minister of Justice all appear probable appointments. Still up for grabs are all the other posts, including the key job of Foreign Minister.
Mr Berlusconi, however, has plenty of time in which to ponder his choices since constitutional protocol will delay the formal government mandate from President Ciampi until well into next month.
The new parliament must first meet and elect both speakers and party whips. Only then can the President begin the formal consultations which will lead to the formation of Italy's 59th government since the second World War.
While Mr Berlusconi and allies prepare for office, the defeated centre-left was caught up in recrimination. An Italian Communist Pary (PDCI) exponent, the former minister of justice, Mr Oliviero Diliberto, accused the hard-line Marxist party, Rifondazione Communista, of having "handed over the country to Berlusconi".
According to Mr Diliberto's calculations, Rifondazione's decision to contest seats against the centre-left cost the Olive coalition at least 33 Senate seats, thus depriving the centre-left of a Senate majority.
Also licking its wounds was the defeated Green Party which met yesterday with a motion for dissolution as the main item on the agenda. By contrast to voting trends in much of the rest of Europe, the Greens' Sunflower coalition dropped to 2.2 per cent of the vote, failing to make the 4 per cent proportional quorum.
Some indication of the lively days ahead also came yesterday from the AN leader, Mr Fini, who called for the management board of the state-owned broadcasting company RAI to be replaced. When Mr Fini comes to drawing up a list of new RAI appointments, he will presumably know exactly where to look if he needs advice on television management.