Berlusconi wins no-confidence vote

Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi said today that he has been strengthened by a victory in parliament. In a confidence vote last night, he won 342 votes against 275, but needed the backing of the supporters of his rival, Gianfranco Fini to reach his majority.

Professor of international relations and Italian studies at the American University of Rome, James Walston believes that Berlusconi’s reliance on Fini’s supporters means that there will be “another clash in the next few months”.

“It is a lame duck government,” he told Vatican Radio. “Because he cannot do anything without Fini’s support. Not only Fini, but the southern separatist movement, the MPA, which used to be an integral part of his own party … so he’s going to have to work very hard to maintain that majority.”