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Italy's new cabinet wins second confidence vote in parliament

Xinhua, December 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

The new cabinet of Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni won the second of two confidence votes on Wednesday, paving the way for formally taking over the power.

The voting session took place in the upper house, with senators voting 169 in favor and 99 against.

The cabinet had already cleared a confidence vote in the lower house on Tuesday evening, with a majority of 368 votes in favor and 105 against.

Gentiloni has recently succeeded former prime minister Matteo Renzi, who resigned on Dec. 7 after suffering a large defeat in a referendum on a constitutional reform that his cabinet had strongly advocated.

As already happened in the chamber of deputies the day before, many opposition lawmakers in the senate did not take part in the ballot to protest against Gentiloni.

Anti-establishment Five Star Movement, and anti-immigrant Northern League, especially, accused the new Prime Minister of selecting a cabinet very similar to the previous one.

Some 12 out of 18 ministers have indeed been reappointed, and the new government counts on more or less the same parliamentary majority as Renzi's one. Endit