Italian center-left Prime Minister Romano Prodi won the confidence vote in Senate last night.

Prodi won the vote with 162 votes in favor and 157 against.

Prodi quit last Wednesday after losing a vote on foreign policy in the Senate, where his nine-month-old government hangs by a thread.

President Giorgio Napolitano rejected Prodi's resignation at the weekend but asked him to test his majority in parliament.

Another confidence vote will be held in the House on Friday, the local media reported.

That vote poses no problem for the premier, who enjoys a solid majority in the lower chamber.

(Xinhua News Agency March 1, 2007)