ROME, Italy (AFP) – Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi formally handed in his resignation yesterday after five turbulent years at the helm of Italian politics, paving the way for a new centre-left government under Romano Prodi.

The flamboyant conservative leader submitted his resignation to President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi following last month’s defeat to Prodi’s coalition in the closest general election in living memory.

In a statement, Ciampi’s office said Berlusconi “submitted his resignation from the government he heads” and had been asked by the president “to stay in charge to handle current affairs”.

A media tycoon turned politician, Berlusconi’s wealth and his ownership of Italy’s largest private TV network, a publishing group and insurance companies – combined with an outspoken political style – have allowed him to dominate public life for the past five years.

But he has also been dogged by the courts, fighting charges including tax fraud, embezzlement, false accounting and bribing a judge.

The resignation of 69-year-old Berlusconi, Italy’s longest-serving premier since World War II, now opens the way for Prodi to take over.

Ciampi, 85, whose presidential mandate runs out May 18, must decide whether to appoint Prodi or leave it to his successor, who must be elected by the new parliament sometime after May 13.

In the meantime, Prodi has been continuing negotiations with his coalition – a fragile alliance stretching from communists to centrists – on the shape of his government.