Letta Wins New Majority in Italy Before Berlusconi Ouster Vote
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Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta won a late-night confidence vote, securing a new majority less than 24 hours before the Senate is scheduled to decide whether to expel his ally-turned-rival, Silvio Berlusconi.
The Senate approved parliamentary amendments to Letta’s 2014 budget 171-135 in a vote that ended at 12:35 a.m. today in Rome. While Letta’s support is down from the 233 senators he carried in his first confidence vote in April, the premier demonstrated he can govern without the backing of 77-year-old Berlusconi, who took his 62 senators into the opposition.