ITALIAN Prime Minister Romano Prodi won a confidence vote in the Senate today, allowing him to stay in office and drawing an end to a political crisis prompted by his resignation a week ago. Mr Prodi won with 162 votes for and 157 against. He would have had a majority even without the support of four unelected life senators who voted for him. A second confidence vote is due on Friday in the lower house, where Mr Prodi has a much more comfortable majority.
"I am very satisfied, now we'll go to the lower house," he said. Mr Prodi resigned last week after nine months in office over a foreign policy defeat in the Senate after some leftist members in his nine-party coalition voted against him. He got a second chance from President Giorgio Napolitano after he rallied his fractious allies behind him playing on their fears that a defeat would clear the way for conservative Silvio Berlusconi to return to power. |