German Chancellor Angela Merkel has congratulated the Italian center-left leader Romano Prodi on his victory in the country's parliamentary election.

A press release from the German chancellor's office on Friday said Merkel had expressed her congratulations to Prodi by phone on Thursday afternoon.

The chancellor was looking forward to working with Prodi and emphasized the good relations between the two countries.

Merkel also expressed her hope that the new Italian government would inject new vigor into the relationship.

In Italy, incumbent Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi still refused to concede.

Italian media reported on Thursday that Berlusconi wanted a recount of more than 1 million votes, saying there had been fraud in the poll.

On Wednesday, Thomas Steg, the deputy German government spokesman, said that Merkel assumed Prodi's center-left group would form the next government soon in Rome and that a new and stable Italian government was in Germany's interests.

Merkel was spending her Easter holiday on the Italian island of Ischia, where she had been a regular vacationer for years.

Source: Xinhua