UPDATE 2-Berlusconi calls for strong majority or early vote

* Berlusconi to seek new elections if not enough support

* Says Italy needs strong govt at time of euro zone crisis

(Adds background, details)

By James Mackenzie

ROME, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Wednesday he would seek new elections if his centre-right government fails to obtain a strong enough majority in next month's confidence vote to carry out reforms.

Berlusconi's struggling government, undermined by a weak economy and a succession of scandals, faces two confidence votes in parliament on Dec. 14 that could trigger elections more than two years ahead of the scheduled date in 2013.

The ruling People of Freedom party (PDL) has been weakened by an internal split and Berlusconi no longer enjoys a secure majority in the lower house. But he said he still expected to defeat a no confidence motion against the government.

"I think that we will have a majority, a good majority in the lower house and the Senate and that we will govern," he told reporters at a news conference on youth policy, adding that Italy needed steadiness during the euro zone debt crisis.

"Italy needs anything but government instability," he said.

If Berlusconi lost either vote, he would be forced to resign. But he indicated that it would not be sufficient to win a bare majority if his scope for manoeuvre was too constrained to be able to govern effectively.

"If it is not possible to govern because the confidence of the majority is not obtained or there is no majority capable of obtaining approvals for reform, I will go to the head of state and, with the majority in both houses of parliament, we will ask to go to elections," he said.

"I do not believe in the possibility of a government that is not capable of influencing the reality of the country, of changing the country and improving it."

"ONE-MAN SHOW IS OVER"

The fate of the government has hung in the balance since July when Berlusconi split with long-time ally Gianfranco Fini and more than 40 of his supporters in parliament and he has faced growing criticism from the business establishment.

If Berlusconi loses on Dec. 14, President Giorgio Napolitano will have to decide whether to call new elections or appoint an interim government headed by a figure able to command enough support to lead a majority in parliament.

On Wednesday, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, the head of Ferrari and one of Italy's most respected business leaders who has often been seen as a potential stand-in prime minister hinted that he might be ready to take a political role.

"I feel the duty to do something for the country," he said at a function of the Italia Futura foundation he heads. "The one-man show is over."

A scandal over Berlusconi's links to a teenage nightclub dancer, a series of corruption probes and his failure to end the latest garbage crisis in Naples have weighed on his popularity, which is now at a record low of 35 percent.

He repeated warnings that Italy, with a public debt burden of almost 120 percent of gross domestic product and weak growth prospects, needed steadiness during the euro zone debt crisis if its credit rating is to be protected.

The premium demanded to hold Italian government debt rather than safer benchmark German bonds has widened in the crisis and the yield on 10-year Italian bonds briefly hit its highest since early May at 4.391 percent on Wednesday IT10YT=TWEB.>

The euro zone's third largest economy has weathered the crisis better than many peers but with Ireland on its knees and growing concern about Portugal and Spain, analysts say prolonged political uncertainty could attract unwelcome market attention.

The 2011 budget law is currently making its way through parliament and is expected to be passed by Dec. 10. (Additional reporting by Silvia Aloisi; editing by Ron Askew)