Leader wins vote but faces hurdles to retain power

ROME — Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte won a crucial vote in Parliament’s lower house Monday night after a coalition defector’s lawmakers abstained in the balloting, but he must clear a much tougher hurdle less than 24 hours later in the Senate to hold on to power.

Lawmakers in the Chamber of Deputies voted 321 to 259 in approval of Conte’s government, after the premier sought their backing to overcome a political crisis — lamenting that it had left Italian citizens bewildered in the midst of the pandemic.There were 27 abstentions.