Had he lost the vote on Monday, Conte would have been forced to resign as the nation’s leader.
After his appeal to opposition and non-aligned lawmakers to back him following last week’s walk-out by former prime minister Matteo Renzi’s Italia Viva party, Conte’s government won the lower house vote by 321 to 259.
The margin was wider than expected and gave the government an absolute majority in the 629-seat chamber.
Conte will face a tougher test on Tuesday in the Senate, where the government had only a slim majority even when Italia Viva was still part of the coalition.
Looking to entice centrist and liberal lawmakers, Conte promised to revamp his policy agenda and shake up his cabinet, saying he wanted to modernise Italy and speed up implementation of a recovery plan for the country’s devastated economy.
“I ask for clear, transparent support, based on the strength and clarity of the proposal,” Conte told the Chamber opening the confidence debate, condemning Renzi’s centrist party for abandoning the 17-month-old coalition.
“Let’s be frank, we can’t undo what has happened, we can’t regain the trust and confidence that are essential conditions for working together.
“Now we have to turn the page.”
Italia Viva said it withdrew from the cabinet because it did not agree with the prime minister’s handling of the twin coronavirus and economic crises.
Without mentioning Renzi by name, Conte said there was “no plausible justification” for his walkout, which risked damaging Italy at a time when it was president of the G20 group of major global economies.
Conte also defended his government’s plan for dealing with the pandemic as well as Italy’s longstanding economic problems.
“From the start I’ve worked on a courageous design for reform based on sustainability, social and territorial cohesion, and the development of people,” he said.
Attention now turns to Tuesday’s vote in the 321-seat Senate.
If Conte cannot show he has a solid parliamentary majority, he is expected to resign, opening up three main scenarios.
The PD and M5S could patch things up with Renzi, and form a reshuffled government, with or without Conte at the helm.
However, this now looks unlikely as the two parties have rejected the idea of working with Renzi.
But the PD has kept the door open to individual lawmakers from the Italia Viva party – two of whom have said they will break ranks.
Otherwise, there could be a new coalition government, probably led by another non-partisan figure (which is how Conte was initially chosen).
Failing that, Italy could end up with snap elections, which would be expected to hand victory to right-wing opposition parties.
