# Votes of confidence and resignations

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/votes-of-confidence-and-resignations/434912>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 25, 2008, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/votes-of-confidence-and-resignations/434912 "2008-01-25T02:53:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/votes-of-confidence-and-resignations/434912/1 "2008-01-25T02:53:42Z")

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I read in the news today that Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has resigned after losing a confidence vote in the Senate. What would have happened if he did not resign?

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**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/votes-of-confidence-and-resignations/434912/2 "2008-01-25T07:06:15Z")

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[QUOTE=gazpacho]  
I read in the news today that Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has resigned after losing a confidence vote in the Senate. What would have happened if he did not resign?  
[/QUOTE]

I’m not an expert on Italian politics, but I believe the President of Italy would have just dissolved the Parliament and called for new elections regardless of what the PM did.