The Italian government of Mario Monti survived a confidence vote on economic measures in the Senate on Thursday despite a walkout by Silvio Berlusconi's PDL party that indicated mounting political tensions ahead of an election next spring.

Monti's technocrat government won the vote by 127 to 17 votes with 23 abstentions after People of Freedom (PDL) senators abandoned the chamber because of earlier criticism of Berlusconi by Industry Minister Corrado Passera.

In an increasingly fevered pre-election atmosphere, Berlusconi dropped a strong hint late on Wednesday that he could go back on previous statements and run for a fifth term as prime minister in the election, expected in March.

[link to www.eleconomista.es]