Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has won a crucial vote to stay in power – days after former PM Matteo Renzi pulled his party out of the coalition.
The vote in the Senate – 156-140, with 16 abstentions – means, however, that Mr Conte does not have an absolute majority in the upper chamber.
Opposition parties say they plan to ask President Sergio Mattarella to intervene to force him to resign.
Mr Conte, a law professor, has led a centrist coalition since 2018.
The main parties in his coalition are the anti-establishment Five Star (M5S) and the centre-left Democratic Party (PD).
The prime minister told the Senate it was vital to maintain political cohesion faced with the historic challenge of the pandemic.
Speaking in the Senate debate, Mr Renzi told Mr Conte to make bolder reforms, saying Italy is wasting its biggest opportunity since the Marshall Plan – a reference to the US aid for war-shattered Europe in 1948. He accused Mr Conte of being preoccupied with distributing government posts.
Even if Mr Conte had lost the vote, a snap election was not a certainty as President Mattarella still has the option of inviting him to assemble a new coalition.
He won a confidence vote in the Chamber of Deputies – the lower house – by 321 to 259, securing an absolute majority there.
