Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will seek a vote of ­confidence in Parliament today, his Minister for Relations with Parliament Elio Vito announced.

“We will ask for a vote of confidence,” Mr Vito told reporters yesterday after a meeting of Mr Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party (PDL).

The Prime Minister’s spokes­man Paolo Bonaiuti confirmed the information in a statement. The vote will follow months of bitter political turmoil which has put Mr Berlusconi’s parliamentary majority in doubt.

Mr Berlusconi is scheduled to address the lower house of Parliament today – the day on which he turns 74. His government’s term in office ends in 2013.

In August the Prime Minister had said he would ask for a vote of confidence, following the departure of his long-term ally and co-founder of the PDL,

Gianfranco Fini, but no official date had been set until now.

Mr Berlusconi lost his once-comfortable parliamentary majority in July when Mr Fini quit the PDL and set up breakaway groups in Parliament.

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