Rome (CNN) -- Italy faces a period of uncertainty and political horse trading Tuesday after parliamentary elections left no party in a clear position to form a government. The center-left coalition headed by Pier Luigi Bersani won by a narrow margin in Italy's lower house of parliament, according to final figures released by the Interior Ministry. But Bersani's coalition, with 29.54% of the vote, finished less than half a percentage point ahead of the anti-austerity center-right coalition headed by controversial three-time Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, which garnered 29.18%. It was a similar story in Italy's upper house, where the lack of a clear majority means that no one has a firm enough mandate to govern the country.
@highlight
NEW: "We weren't able to see through to the end and win," Berlusconi says of election
@highlight
Parliamentary election results bring fears about weak government, economic woes
@highlight
"Nothing could be worse for Europe," analyst James Walston says of the stalemate
@highlight
A quarter of votes in the lower house go to a protest movement led by an ex-comedian
Silvio Berlusconi
Berlusconi
@placeholder gave conflicting signals as to whether he was running for the premiership, indicating that he would seek the job if his coalition won, but contradicting that on other occasions.