Berlusconi gets much-needed boost with arrest vote

ROME — Premier Silvio Berlusconi has received a political boost after parliament decided not to lift the immunity of an allied lawmaker under investigation in a corruption probe.

Lawmakers in the lower Chamber of Deputies voted 312-305 to keep parliamentary immunity intact for Marco Milanese, a former top aide to Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti. Italian lawmakers enjoy immunity from arrest unless they vote to lift the permission.

The vote by secret ballot was a key test of the cohesiveness of Berlusconi's majority. If Berlusconi's allies had turned on the premier and lifted Milanese's immunity, it would have sent a strong signal of divisions within the majority.

It would have also reflected poorly on Tremonti as Italy struggles with its debt crisis.