Rome ? Italy’s president gave Romano Prodi another shot Saturday, asking him to remain as premier and face a confidence vote in parliament, while Prodi supporters courted outside senators in a frantic effort to end the country’s political crisis.

Prodi stepped down Wednesday after an embarrassing parliamentary defeat over foreign policy, including the government’s plan to keep troops in Afghanistan.

Defections by radical leftists were to blame.

“I will seek a vote of confidence as soon as possible, with renewed impetus and a united and determined coalition,” Prodi said after meeting with President Giorgio Napolitano.

But Prodi’s majority in the Senate is slim and his allies, ranging from Catholic centrists to Communists, have proven unreliable.

Center-left leaders have been shopping for votes among moderates and Catholics to broaden their margin and avert what would be a disastrous defeat in the Senate.

“It’s a meat market of senators,” said Fabrizio Cicchitto, a leading member of the opposition Forza Italia party. “We have reached a point of unbelievable degradation.”