Silvio Berlusconi, Italian prime minister, has won back-to-back votes of confidence in the Italian parliament but has been left with a razor-thin majority that will make it hard for him to govern effectively.
In the second and most dramatic of Tuesday's votes, Berlusconi survived a no-confidence motion in the lower house by three votes.
Voting was briefly interrupted after scuffles broke out during the tense session.
Earlier in the day, Berlusconi had secured a more comfortable victory in a confidence vote at the Senate.
The votes were called following a spate of sex scandals and a breakup with a close ally that cost Berlusconi support and threw into question whether he could still muster a parliamentary majority.
Subject: Italy PM survives confidence votes 
Tue Dec 14, 2010 10:59 pm
