Italy's Senators Vote to Give Prodi Government Another Chance

After a day of fevered speculation about rumoured betrayals and supposed conspiracies, Italy's senators last night voted to give Romano Prodi's centre-left government another chance.

Its chances of survival were boosted at the last minute when Giulio Andreotti, an 88-year-old former prime minister and a life senator, announced he would not take part in the ballot. Under the rules of the upper house, the government required an outright majority and Mr Andreotti's move reduced the votes needed.

Mr Prodi won 162 votes against 157.

So close was the expected outcome, that one senator, who was taken to hospital with gallstones last week had arrived in parliament accompanied by a doctor.

Sounding exhausted after seven days of frantic negotiation, Mr Prodi, flanked by grim-faced ministers, had made a final appeal for support. He said the economy was offering "signs of hope and room for optimism", but begged for time to give Italy a "strong, decisive economic policy".

The prime minister tendered his resignation last week after a defeat in the senate on the government's foreign policy. After consulting party leaders and others, president Giorgio Napolitano sent him back to test the true level of his support in both chambers.

The centre-left has a clear edge in the lower house, but it hangs by a thread in the senate. As members queued to cast ballots in curtained booths in the 16th century Palazzo Madama, the government's chances of survival appeared to depend on two senators, one of whom lives in Argentina and flew to Italy to vote.

A defeat for Mr Prodi would most likely have led to an unaligned government with a mandate to reform the electoral law that was introduced by the right and has been blamed for hamstringing the senate and making the country ungovernable.

But Mr Prodi's victory last night was not expected to put an end to Italy's instability. His unwieldy, nine-party coalition has yet to confront votes in parliament on a string of divisive issues.