Bersani wins Italy primary, heads to general vote

Preliminary results gave Bersani 60.8 percent of the vote compared to Florence Mayor Matteo Renzi's 39.1 percent, with two-thirds of the votes counted.

Even before the results were released, Renzi conceded the victory to Bersani in a Twitter message, writing: "It was the right thing to try, it was beautiful to do it together. Thank you all from the heart."

The primary had been closely watched since the Democratic Party has a significant lead in the polls over former Premier Silvio Berlusconi's center-right People of Freedom party, which has been in chaos following the media mogul's 2011 downfall, a series of corruption scandals within party ranks and Berlusconi's indecision over whether to run for a fourth term.

The 2013 general election — expected in March or April — will decide if Italy continues on the same path to financial health charted by Premier Mario Monti, appointed last year to save Italy from a Greek-style debt crisis. The former European commissioner was named to head a technical government after international markets lost confidence in then-premier Berlusconi's ability to reign in Italy's public debt and push through structural reforms.

Monti has ruled out running for office but has said he would be willing to stay on in some capacity if he could be of service. Some commentators have floated the idea of Monti taking over the largely ceremonial role as Italian president, while others say his talents would be put to better use as treasury minister.

Nearly all polls had projected Bersani would beat Renzi, who campaigned on an Obama-style "Let's change Italy now" mantra that attracted many disgruntled Italians back to politics. Renzi used his youth — he's 37 — to bolster his call for Italy's entire political class to be "scrapped."

Bersani, by contrast, is 61 and a veteran of previous center-left governments, where he has served as transport and industry minister. In his victory speech, Bersani made clear his new job running for premier would begin Monday with a trip to Libya, Italy's former colony, to meet with the government.

"I want Italy to retake its place in political, moral, cultural and economic terms in the Mediterranean," Bersani said to cheers.

But even in defeat, Renzi won a victory of sorts for having changed the Italian left — perhaps forever, analysts said. Renzi's perceived liberal conservative leanings within the center-left, while alienating the movement's hard-core communists, attracted Italians young and old who might otherwise never have voted, much less for a center-left candidate. He liked to say that he offered a different vision for the party, a different model.