ROME, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The Italian parliament's first business on Friday was to elect a new speaker since Romano Prodi's coalition narrow win in the elections earlier this month.

    Prodi's centre-left coalition holds a narrow 158-156 majority over the centre-right in the upper house Senate, and his candidate for speaker is up against the nominee of outgoing Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's coalition.

    Prodi's candidate Franco Marini, 73, a former leader of one of Italy's major labor confederations, is facing the risk of some floaters electing to support 87-year-old Giulio Andreotti.

    Political analysts said the vote would be a test for Prodi's authority. If Marini fails to win the vote, it will signal that Prodi's tiny majority was not enough to guarantee political peace and might lead to chronic instability that would open the way for new elections.

    Voting will begin Friday afternoon, first in the House, and the results are expected on Saturday.

    Italy's new parliament opened on Friday for business. Both the 630-seat House and the 315-seat Senate began proceedings with one-minute's silence for the three Italian soldiers who were killed in a bomb explosion in Iraq on Thursday. Enditem