Italian PM seeks to save his government

ROME — Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte on Monday asked lawmakers for their “clear backing” to overcome a political crisis he said had provoked deep dismay among Italians whose chief concern is the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conte lost his coalition majority with the defection of Cabinet ministers belonging to former Premier Matteo Renzi’s tiny but key Italy Alive party, that threatened to collapse his government.

Parliament’s lower house was set to begin casting ballots tantamount to a confidence vote on the government late Monday. Conte’s chances of prevailing in the vote received an important boost when a lawmaker in Renzi’s party announced in Parliament after Conte’s speech that Italy Alive’s deputies would abstain in the balloting.

But a much tougher hurdle loomed in the Senate, today, where Renzi’s party has 18 members, meaning Conte needs support from outside his wobbly coalition to stay in power.