(ANSA) - Rome, March 30 - Premier Silvio Berlusconi claimed a personal "victory" for his strong showing in key regional elections Sunday and Monday and said gains made by his Northern League ally would strengthen the government and allow it to introduce important reforms.

The premier turned the vote in 13 of the country's 20 regions into a sort of referendum for his centre-right coalition, telling Italians they would have to choose between his "can-do government" and the "small-talking Left".

"The election results are the best acknowledgement for the work the government has done, for the stability of the political system and for the possibility of allowing us, during the second part of the legislature, to push through reforms for modernisation and growth," the premier said in a statement.

With some 41 million voting, the March 28-9 elections was generally regarded as the first real test for the premier since he swept to power in April 2008.

Referring to the League candidates who won the presidency of the Piedmont and Veneto regions, Berlusconi said this would bolster the coalition and give it the necessary impetus for making changes.

The alliance between the League and his People of Freedom (PdL) party "confirms itself as a robust force of change in the most important regions and guarantees change and modernisation in the country," he said.

Berlusconi thanked voters who supported the PdL despite what he claimed was a "terrible campaign of lies and defamation over the last two months".

"Once again, love has triumphed over envy and hatred," said the 73-year-old media tycoon-turned politician.

The premier took note that "moderate-minded voters" had come out in full force to support his candidate in the Lazio region despite the fact that the PdL had been barred from running in the Rome province after it failed to meet an election-filing deadline.

The campaign was bitter amidst a corruption probe involving a key Berlusconi aide, investigations into the premier's alleged attempt to muzzle TV talk shows critical of his government and the exclusion of the PdL from the race in the Rome area.

The League too brushed off reports that its strong showing would cause rifts in the the coalition, as some pundits suggested.

Simplification Minister Roberto Calderoli, a League heavyweight, said that "Berlusconi and the government come out stronger. Berlusconi's insurance is the League strongbox of voters".

He also dismissed fears that the devolutionist League would use its additional power to push for a soft form of secession of the northern Italian regions from the rest of the country.

The League, which emerged as a political force in the north in the early 1990s on the wave of grass roots calls to break away from the less industrial regions of the south, has of late been pressing for the devolution of state powers to the regions. "The League has become the most responsible political party of all over the last few years because it has looked for solutions to problems facing the north as well as the south," he said.

"Attempts to revive these old stereotypes about the League don't work any longer because people are voting for us". Meanwhile, opposition leader Pierluigi Bersani called a meeting of top aides to discuss the election amid demands that his Democratic Party (PD) rethink its strategy.

Former party leaders Massimo D'Alema and Walter Veltroni will join in analysing the results of the vote, which saw the PdL and the League wrest four important regions from the PD.

Party sources said no one expected Bersani's head to fall but there were widespread calls for a "change of course".

Ignazio Marino, who failed in a bid to become the party's leader last year, said the PD needed "to admit we haven't got the pulse of the country and start working on concrete proposals, from today on," he said.

Nichi Vendola, who was reconfirmed as president of the Puglia region, said the centre left's defeat was especially upsetting because it came amidst a time of crisis for Berlusconi, who has been dealing with two trials over alleged corruption in Milan and a probe over attempts to muzzle critical TV shows.

Vendola, a leftist who is not a member of the PD but who nevertheless beat the party candidate in a primary held in January, is being touted by some as Bersani's replacement.

But he dismissed the reports, saying: "I would be happier knowing what the centre left's future is rather than knowing before it's time who its leader is".

Vendola said the centre left would never beat the premier, who has been a force since he entered politics in 1994, if it didn't stop focusing on him and deal with real-life issues.