Berlusconi wins, with a hitch

Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi has won a key parliamentary vote, but the result showed he can no longer count on a majority.

The opposition immediately demanded Mr Berlusconi step down to calm financial markets that are running scared of the country’s economic problems.

The vote, on a routine measure to approve the 2010 state budget, won 308 for and none against in the Chamber of Deputies. But 321 deputies abstained, most of them from the centre-left opposition.

If all 630 had voted, Mr Berlusconi would need a 316-seat majority to assure he was still in command.

Mr Berlusconi scrutinised the vote tally handed him right after the vote, apparently trying to figure out who had abstained.

“This government does not have the majority!” thundered opposition leader Pierluigi Bersani, rising up in the chamber.

“We all know that Italy is running the real risk in the next days to not have access to financial markets,” he said.

He was referring to Italy’s borrowing rates, which have been soaring amid weeks of political uncertainty over Mr Berlusconi’s ability to continue to lead the country and oversee the adoption of austerity measures to fight Italy’s growing pile of debt.