Italy’s new populist government wins 2nd confidence vote

ROME – Italy’s new populist government has easily won its second, and final, mandatory confidence vote in Parliament’s lower chamber.

The result of the mandatory vote Wednesday among lawmakers in the Chamber of Deputies on Premier Giuseppe Conte’s coalition was 350-236, with 35 abstentions. A political novice, Conte leads the euroskeptic coalition of the 5-Star Movement, which considers itself anti-establishment, and the right-wing, north-based League party.

On Tuesday, Conte won a confidence vote in the Senate.

A law professor, Conte was a compromise choice when neither 5-Star leader Luigi Di Maio nor League leader Matteo Salvini allowed the other to be premier after March 4 elections proved inconclusive. Their forces command a slim but workable parliamentary majority.

Conte makes his debut in the international arena at this week’s G7 summit in Canada.