Italian premier wins vote but needs more support to claim majority

ITALIAN Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will work to broaden support for his depleted coalition after falling short of an outright majority in a crucial Senate vote.

The premier secured the support of 156 senators on Tuesday, less than an outright majority of 161 votes, while 140 rejected him. He campaigned hard to persuade centrists and unaffiliated lawmakers to join his coalition but failed to fully plug the gap left by the defection of a small party led by ex-premier Matteo Renzi

”Now the goal is to make this majority even more solid,” Mr Conte said on Twitter.

Though the government remains fragile, the result in parliament should provide a boost for officials across the European Union who are trying to coordinate efforts to fight the coronavirus. It also provides vindication to investors who have wagered that Italian politicians wouldn’t pitch the country into an election campaign with the pandemic raging around them.

With the European Central Bank’s bond-buying programmes offering support to governments across the euro area, Italy’s 10-year yields have traded in a narrow range throughout the political turmoil.

Italian bonds rallied to send the 10-year yield premium over Germany, a key gauge of risk in the region, to 109 basis points, the lowest in more than a week.

Mr Conte will still need an outright majority if he’s to govern in the longer term because that’s the threshold for passing key legislation including budget laws.

His position is all the more precarious given that he owes his Senate win to the fact that most of Mr Renzi’s senators abstained, lowering the quorum.

Mr Conte is likely to meet President Sergio Mattarella to discuss options but will not resign, Corriere della Sera reported. According to the newspaper, Mr Conte could have about two weeks to build a new majority in the Senate.

Mr “Conte lives to fight another day”, wrote Eurasia Group analyst Federico Santi.

“He is under no immediate pressure to resign and has showed no indication of wanting to do so, despite his now more precarious parliamentary majority. A government reshuffle might be in order.”

The premier, who won an outright majority in a similar confidence measure in the lower house on Monday, will look to add further backing over the coming days, and a group of senators has indicated they’ll declare their support for him, according to a local source.