With relations between Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta’s center-left bloc and Silvio Berlusconi’s conservatives at an all time low, Letta will go to parliament and ask for a confidence vote this week.

Berlusconi pulled his five ministers out of the administration over the weekend, in protest of his criminal convictions for tax evasion and soliciting a child prostitute.  But those five conservatives have since made statements expressing reservations or even outright disagreement with the decision. 

That’s given Letta a shot of confidence to face down the billionaire Berlusconi.  The Prime Minister will go before parliament to seek support to continue in a confidence vote, probably on Wednesday.

New elections would be costly, and likely wouldn’t solve the impasse.  Opinion polls are almost evenly split between Letta's moderates and Berlusconi’s conservatives.  And there’s no enthusiasm for a return to the polls under the current voting system, which most analysts believe would simply produce more stalemate.