Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte gestures as he replies to questions ahead of a confidence vote at the Senate, at Palazzo Madama in Rome, Italy, on January 19, 2021. (Photo by AFP)

On Tuesday, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte won a crucial confidence vote in the upper house of the parliament with 156 votes in favor, 140 against, and 16 abstentions.

This came after a tense weekend that saw Conte come under harsh criticism. His rivals accused him of engaging in political horse-trading by trying to persuade lawmakers in opposition ranks to join him.

Italy’s political crisis was triggered last week after former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi withdrew his small party Italia Viva’s backing for the coalition government. Renzi said the move was in response to Conte’s poor handling of the economic and coronavirus crises.

Conte’s coalition executive passed a confidence test in the lower house with an absolute majority on Monday, but only won a simple majority in the upper house the next day.

Minutes after the parliamentary vote, the center-right opposition said the government remains too weak to effectively rule the country and it is on its feet thanks to people who have changed sides.

Although the government survived the confidence vote, the prospect of Italy’s future remains bleak. Experts predict mass protests and demonstrations nationwide when a salary support scheme and a halt to layoffs adopted to contain the impact of the pandemic on the jobs market ends in March.