ROME: Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte narrowly won a confidence vote in the upper house Senate on Tuesday allowing him to remain in office after a junior partner quit his coalition last week in the midst of the raging COVID pandemic.

Conte overcame a similar confidence motion in the lower house on Monday. Had he lost either vote, he would have had to resign.

According to a preliminary, informal count, he won in the 321-seat Senate by 153 to 140, a narrower margin of victory than some of his allies had been hoping for and well short of the 161 votes he needed for an absolute majority.

However, the results have not yet been officially released and the final figures might change slightly.