Italian parliament allows arrest of Berlusconi ally

The Italian parliament voted to allow the arrest of a deputy accused of involvement in a widening scandal that has damaged Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and highlighted growing divisions in his government.

The vote to authorise the arrest of Alfonso Papa, a deputy in the ruling PDL party, was backed by members of Berlusconi's Northern League coalition partners, despite repeated efforts by the prime minister to dissuade them.

Papa is accused by Naples prosecutors of being part of a network suspected of using illegally obtained information to help individuals, including a senior PDL official, to avoid judicial investigation.

He has been charged with corruption, unlawfully revealing and using confidential official information and abetting illegal activity.

The vote came as financial markets have been focusing on Italy's increasingly shaky looking government and doubts about its capacity to conduct the meaningful reforms needed to restore the sickly economy.

Berlusconi, mired in scandal and facing four separate trials on corruption and sex charges, is struggling to keep control of the government, which is deeply divided by personal rivalries and issues from economic policy to the war in Libya.

The Northern League's decision to vote for Papa's arrest is its most flagrant break with the PDL and increases the chances of a collapse of the governing coalition and an early election before the date scheduled in 2013.

But it also highlighted divisions within the League itself and pointed to a growing role for the powerful Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, far less close to Berlusconi than veteran party leader Umberto Bossi.

"We were consistent. The League voted yes, absolutely yes, as we said we would," Maroni, the most prominent League advocate of the vote, said afterwards.