Sepcial Report: Italy's general election

    Related: Italian govt faces confidence vote in Senate

    ROME, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi on Wednesday won a confidence vote in the Senate over a decree to postpone the effective date of a package of laws endorsed by the previous government.

    The bill was approved by a vote of 160-1 in the Senate, the upper house of parliament where Prodi's center-left coalition has a two-seat majority over the center-right opposition.

    It has to be passed by the lower house for final approval.

    Under the decree, the incumbent government would have more time to fulfill measures approved by its predecessor, thus delaying the entry into force of some laws passed by the previous government.

    Prodi's government, which took power after winning an April election by a thin margin, hoped that the vote could speed up passages of legislation. Enditem