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Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte won the vote of confidence in both houses of the Italian Parliament. After the House of Representatives, the Senate also voted Tuesday night to continue the rule of the non-partisan prime minister. His coalition of the Five Star Movement and the Social Democrats continues to shake.
To enforce important decisions, such as the implementation of the package of measures to use the 209 billion euros from the Brussels Crown aid package, Conte needs an absolute majority in both houses. But this is missing, at least in the Senate.
There the head of government could only win the vote because the senators “Italia Viva” of former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who left the coalition a few days ago, abstained and at the same time two senators of “Forza Italia” of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi voted for Conte.
Obviously, Renzi bet a lot and, for the moment, he did not lose. Because his prophecy, according to which the Conte government would not have a majority without “Italia Viva”, came true. After a good twelve hours of debate, in which the political fields exchanged more insults than arguments, a vote was held in the Senate.
Chaotic voting
And it was chaotic. Two senators who had been silent on the first call to vote appeared to have cast their votes only after the second round of voting was completed. The secretary of the Senate announced the result of 154 votes to 140. Then there were tumultuous scenes in the semicircle of the chamber.
After 30 minutes of deliberation, the president of the Senate, Maria Elisabetta Casellati, also approved the two senators and announced the official result of 156 to 140 votes. If Renzi’s 16 senators had not abstained, there would have been a tie, and Conte would have lost the vote of confidence. Conte lacks a reliable replacement for the “Italia Viva” vocals.
The head of the right-wing populist Lega, Matteo Salvini, and Giorgia Meloni of the post-fascist party “Hermanos de Italia” immediately announced that they would speak with President Sergio Mattarella for the right-wing opposition parties and call for the dissolution of parliament and the convening of new elections, there. the government does not have a stable majority and is therefore de facto unable to act.
