Almost three weeks after the centre-left coalition of Romano Prodi won one of Italy's closest elections ever, Parliament's two houses began voting on Friday for new speakers. Prodi's centre-left coalition has a slim two-seat majority in the Senate and was battling to get its candidate Franco Marini, 73, a member of the Catholic centrist Daisy party, elected to the prestigious post. He is facing off against 87-year-old veteran Giulio Andreotti, who is sponsored by outgoing prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has yet to concede defeat in the election Prodi won by just 24,000 votes. Andreotti, who served as prime minister seven times and is now a life senator, was cleared of having colluded with the Mafia in 2004 after ten years of legal proceedings.In the lower house, the centre-left's candidate Fausto Bertinotti, a member of the left-wing Refounded Communist party, failed to win the two thirds majority required in the first vote but was expected to be elected as speaker on Saturday. Prodi's coalition has almost a 70-seat majority in the lower house because of a winners' bonus in the electoral system. Prodi will be able to form a government once the speakers of the two chambers are elected.