Italy’s PM Conte pitches for support in parliament for new coalition

Italian PM Giuseppe Conte is pitching for support in parliament for his new left-leaning coalition, ahead of crucial confidence votes. The lower Chamber of Deputies, where the government has a comfortable majority, is set to vote Monday evening.

However, a coalition of the populist Five-Star Movement and center-left Democrats holds a much-slimmer margin for a vote on Tuesday in the Senate. If Conte’s government loses either vote, it must resign.

Matteo Salvini’s anti-migrant Lega Nord party and a smaller far-right party were protesting outside parliament on Monday, AP reported.

Conte’s first government collapsed after 14 months when Salvini withdrew his right-wing forces’ support, but the Five-Stars and Democrats set aside their rivalry to form an alternative coalition.