Prodi looks set to win confidence vote to stay PM

ROME, Feb 28 (Reuters) Romano Prodi looks set to win a Senate confidence vote toay to stay as Italy's prime minister after rallying fractious allies behind him to end a political crisis triggered by his resignation a week ago.

Prodi quit after only nine months in office following a defeat over foreign policy in the same chamber of parliament when leftist members of his Catholics-to-communists coalition voted against him.

The new-found unity in centre-left ranks prompted President Giorgio Napolitano to ask Prodi to stay on at the helm of Italy's 61st government since World War Two and test his leadership in parliament.

Since his resignation plunged Italy into political uncertainty, Prodi has taken a ''back me or sack me'' approach, playing on his allies' fears that conservative Silvio Berlusconi could return to power.

He has also succeeded in wooing two extra senators, including a former deputy prime minister who served under Berlusconi, to bolster flimsy support in the Senate where his coalition is on level pegging with the centre-right opposition.

Thanks to that, and to the backing of unelected life senators, Prodi is expected to win Wednesday's vote by 164 votes to 157. The result should be known by 10 p.m. (2100 GMT).

A second vote is expected in the lower house, where Prodi has a much more comfortable majority, on Friday.

PRODI PROMISE Prodi promised the Senate it would be his absolute priority to reform electoral laws blamed for political instability in post-war Italy if parliament confirmed him as prime minister.

''I am here today to ask for a renewal of confidence, so that we can immediately restore complete normality to parliamentary activities and resume governing with even greater determination and energy,'' Prodi told senators on Tuesday.

He later told reporters he was confident of winning, adding: ''We'll see tomorrow.'' The centre-right opposition, which has called for snap elections, said Prodi's confirmation will only prolong his cabinet's agony.

''Prodi's government is already past its expiry date. If it were a yoghurt, they would have already taken it off the supermarket's shelves,'' said Berlusconi's spokesman.

Prodi, who came to power last May after winning the closest election in Italy's postwar history, has arm-twisted the nine parties in his bloc into signing a non-negotiable 12-point programme that gives him the final say in case of conflict.

But many analysts say Prodi will remain vulnerable to infighting within his coalition, which is divided over anything from Italy's military presence in Afghanistan to pensions reform and gay rights.

''I will vote the confidence because I don't want the right to come back but I remain distant on several issues, like Afghanistan, where I will continue to vote 'no','' said Franco Turigliatto, one of the senators who abandoned Prodi last week.

Parliament must approve new funds by the end of March to keep 1,900 Italian troops as part of a NATO force in Afghanistan.

The political standoff has been largely ignored by financial markets and Italy's European Union partners.

REUTERS PDM ND1956