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ROME - Romano Prodi won a confidence vote in Italy's upper house today to stay on as prime minister, but an opinion poll suggested his grip on power would remain weak.
Prodi resigned last week after only nine months in office when some members on the left of his coalition, ranging from Roman Catholics to communist, voted against him in the Senate over foreign policy.
He was given a second chance by President Giorgio Napolitano after he rallied his fractious allies, playing on their fears that his premature political demise would clear the way for former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to return to power.
To stay on, Prodi had to prove he could command enough support in the upper house, where his bloc has a flimsy majority.
He won today's vote by 162 votes to 157. Crucially, to avoid opposition protests, he would have had a majority even without the support of four unelected life senators who voted for him.
"We are self-sufficient in every sense of the word, even without the life senators," Prodi said after the vote. "I am very satisfied."
Prodi, who last year won the closest election in Italy's post-war history, now faces a much easier test in the lower house, where he has a comfortable majority.
However, a new published on Wednesday gave him little reason to celebrate, suggesting only four in 10 Italians want the centre-left leader to stay on.
Most favour a non-partisan technical government or snap elections, according to the poll in the newspaper Corriere della Sera.
Thirty-nine per cent said Prodi would last only a couple of months and 22 per cent gave him 1-2 years -- well short of a complete five-year term.
"Not to sound like party poopers, but unfortunately the question all Italians are asking is still the same, and a very simple one: when, and over what, will the Prodi government fall again?" said an editorial in La Stampa newspaper.
Chronic instability
Italy's electoral law favour small parties and motley coalitions like Prodi's alliance rather than strong majorities, and is widely blamed for the political instability that has given Italy 61 governments since World War Two.
Before the vote, Prodi had promised electoral reform if confirmed in his job.
Since coming to power last May, he has often resorted to "back me or sack me" votes -- and won. This time, his shock resignation made the prospect of media tycoon Berlusconi's return more real.
That helped him recruit wavering lawmakers, including a former deputy prime minister under Berlusconi, to help him in the Senate and draw a line under the latest political crisis.
However, rating agencies fear the convulsions have left Italy in poor shape to take advantage of a lift in economic growth and to implement public reforms after a deficit-slashing budget.
Analysts warn that splits in the government, which is divided over issues such as Italy's military presence in Afghanistan, gay rights and pensions reform, are bound to resurface soon.
- REUTERS
