Silvio Berlusconi faces a crucial confidence vote on Tuesday Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is set to make a final address to parliament ahead of a vote of confidence on Tuesday.
Mr Berlusconi, who will speak to both houses of parliament, has said he is confident of victory.
His opponents claim that the scandals caused by Mr Berlusconi’s private life and his lack of policy direction make him a liability to Italy.
If he loses, Mr Berlusconi has said there will be early elections.
The immediate trigger to the crisis has been the defection of dozens of his own supporters to form a breakaway political party, thereby depriving the prime minister of his automatic majority in the lower house.
The new party is led by Gianfranco Fini, who says Mr Berlusconi’s personal scandals, gaffes and failed policy programme make his position untenable.
Mr Fini says he has enough votes to unseat Mr Berlusconi, but in truth the numbers are so close no credible observer of these dramatic events is predicting which way it will go.
Italian media are filled with speculation and rumour about the outcome of votes of confidence in both houses of parliament.
An investigation has been launched into claims that inducements have been offered to some members of parliament to secure their vote for Mr Berlusconi.
Meanwhile, Mr Berlusconi says that early elections could cause political instability which would lead to a Greek- or Irish-style economic crisis.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.