Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has won a crucial confidence vote in parliament.

Berlusconi's conservatives won in a 316-301 vote in parliament's lower house. After days of tension, the prime minister's allies clapped when the result of the vote was announced.

Berlusconi has been weakened by sex scandals and criticized for his handling of Italy's economy. He has been facing repeated calls for his resignation from his political rivals, labour unions and parts of the business community that once considered him their saviour.

Even some of his own allies have openly expressed disappointment, with at least two deserting the crucial vote Friday.

Had he lost the vote of confidence, Berlusconi would have been forced to resign — about 1½ years before the end of his term, in 2013.

The 75-year-old leader has steadfastly hung onto power despite the scandals and four criminal trials in Milan. He has always maintained his innocence and blamed what he says are overzealous, left-leaning prosecutors bent on ousting him from power.

He insisted that there is no alternative to his government. He said the vote Friday amounted to an "ambush" by the opposition, and moments after the vote, he spoke to reporters about his plan to spur the country's moribund economy.

Economic woes

Italy is under pressure to come up with growth-promoting measures to avert being dragged into the widening sovereign debt crisis.

Three ratings agencies have downgraded Italy's public debt, citing the country's political gridlock and low growth prospects as key reasons. The vote Friday appeared to do little to reassure markets.

This week, Central Bank chief Mario Draghi, who takes over the helm of the European Central Bank on Nov. 1, urged the government to act more quickly to implement reforms that can spur growth — beyond the austerity package that put Italy on the path to balance its budget by 2013.

Otherwise, Draghi warned that the rising cost of borrowing to service national debt seen over the last three months will eat up "no small part" of the austerity package approved by Parliament last month.

"The goal of relaunching growth is finally largely shared, but the adoption of the measures necessary so far have banged up against apparently insurmountable difficulties," Draghi said.