Italy's President Giorgio Napolitano asked Romano Prodi today to stay on as prime minister and face a confidence vote to test his majority in parliament, the president's office said.
Mr Prodi resigned on Wednesday after he lost a vote on foreign policy in the upper house of parliament, the Senate, plunging the country into political uncertainty.
Thanking the president for his support, Mr Prodi said: "I will go to parliament as soon as possible, with the support of a cohesive coalition determined to help the country at this difficult stage."
Activists from Forza Italia, the party of former premier Silvio Berlusconi outside the Palazzo Chigi in Rome, which houses the offices of the Prime Minister
President Giorgio Napolitano had consulted all political leaders on how to resolve the crisis.
Mr Prodi's supporters asked that he be given a second chance to show he can command a majority in parliament, while former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called for fresh elections.
After intense negotiations over the past two days, Mr Prodi appeared to have succeeded in luring at least one extra senator to bolster his feeble majority in the upper house.
Marco Follini, a Christian Democrat who briefly served as deputy prime minister in Silvio Berlusconi's government, said he would "probably" support Mr Prodi in a confidence vote. Mr Prodi should also be able to count on the support of a majority of the seven senators-for-life, non-elected elder statesmen, to ensure his return to power.
But Gianfranco Fini, head of the opposition National Alliance, said it would be a "democratic anomaly" for Mr Prodi to return to power without a guaranteed majority in parliament. "The head of state must ensure that in the Senate there is a political majority even without the votes of the life senators," he told Corriere della Seradaily.
The vote in the lower house and the Senate is expected to be held on two separate days, probably starting on Wednesday.