President Giorgio Napolitano asked Prodi to continue in office as the head of state holds consultations with political leaders, beginning on Friday afternoon with the speakers of the Senate and the lower house Chamber of Deputies, the president’s office said in a statement on Thursday.

Prodi (68) crippled by the defection this week of the centrist Catholic UDEUR party, had decided to go ahead with the Senate showdown despite appeals from top leaders, including Napolitano, to resign instead. The mild-mannered former economics professor appeared resigned to the near certainty that he would lose the vote but determined to carry through with it on principle.

“I am here because you cannot hide from the judgement of those who represent the people, and our people are watching us,” said Prodi.

Despite a last-minute change of heart by one of UDEUR’s three senators and the support of five of Italy’s unelected senators for life including 98-year-old Rita Levi-Montalcini, Prodi fell five votes short in the upper house. Predicting that Prodi would “go for broke” in the Senate, the daily Corriere della Sera had said on Thursday: “We have all the ingredients of a political suicide broadcast live.”

Tension ahead of the vote spilled over into open acrimony and high drama when UDEUR member Nuccio Cusumano announced to the chamber that he had changed his mind and would vote for Prodi.