Prodi Sails Through

The centre-left prevailed in the Chamber of Deputies by 342 to 253, with two abstentions by far-left members.

The result was expected given the centre-left's comfortable majority in the lower house, but leaves the coalition with little room to manoeuvre in the Senate, where it enjoys a mere two-seat advantage.

Speaking to the Chamber of Deputies before the vote, Prodi said a full five-year mandate would be necessary "to heal, to set in motion appropriate remedies and to obtain results."

Berlusconi slams Prodi government

Prodi resigned abruptly last Wednesday after two communist senators in his coalition torpedoed a vote of confidence in his foreign policy.

Centre-right opposition leader and arch-rival Silvio Berlusconi, taking the floor ahead of the vote Friday, said the resignation had caused "humiliating damage to our country."

He heaped scorn on Prodi's nine-party coalition -- stretching from hardline communists and Greens to centrist Catholics -- saying it had become "an untidy and quarrelsome condominium association."

To bring into line his disparate coalition, Prodi, 67 and serving his second stint as prime minister, had them sign a 12-point "non-negotiable" agreement.

Disagreement on Afghanistan deployment

Heading the list was respect for Italy's international commitments, notably to maintain its 1,800-strong peacekeeping contingent in Afghanistan.

Several far-left lawmakers have already said they will oppose refinancing of the Afghan mission in a vote looming later this month. Prodi may have to accept the embarrassment of finding the necessary numbers in the opposition camp.

Berlusconi on Friday reaffirmed support for the Afghan mission
and ridiculed Prodi's remark following Wednesday's vote that the
centre-left was "self-sufficient."

Speaking on the Afghan issue on Friday, Prodi said support was
building "day by day" for an international conference on Afghanistan demanded by the communists and Greens in his coalition.

In January Italy, which is the UN Security Council non-permanent
member in charge of Afghan issues, said it would be hosting a
donor's conference later in the year.

0ne of the two lawmakers who abstained from the vote on Friday
was Daniele Capezzone of the small left-wing Rose in the Fist party, who has criticised Prodi's 12-point pact as too weak and
inadequate.

The other, Salvatore Cannavo, said he abstained in solidarity
with Senator Franco Turigliatto, who was expelled from the
Refoundation Communist party after voting against Prodi last week.

Shaky support from communists proved Prodi's undoing during his first stint as prime minister in 1996-98. The crisis has been bruising for Prodi, but it has also pointed up disarray in the centre-right, which did not respond with a united front.

Piero Fassino, national secretary of the Democrats of the Left, taunted Berlusconi on the floor of the Chamber of Deputies on Friday, saying, "The truth ... is that a large part of your coalition distrusts your leadership."

He noted that none of the main leaders in the centre-right coalition presented the same proposals when consulted by President Giorgio Napolitano last week.

Electoral reforms needed

The crisis also shone the spotlight on Italy's need for far-reaching electoral reforms to make the country more governable, a project that Prodi has named as a top priority.

Berlusconi, who had previously rejected any change to the law, back-pedaled on the issue ahead of Friday's vote, saying that he was "available for dialogue" on electoral reforms.

Berlusconi -- who enjoys the distinction of having been the only
Italian prime minister to serve a full five years in office, from 2001 to 2006 -- pushed through a new electoral law just weeks before last April's elections narrowly won by the Prodi coalition.

The changes are blamed for Prodi's current shaky hold on the
Senate, while the centre-left's comfortable majority in the 630-seat lower house is bolstered by a built-in majority prize of 30 seats.