In the end the ballot overcomes the historic taboo of the center-right and enters at least as a "topic to reflect on" (copyright the president of the Constitutional Affairs commission of the Senate Andrea De Priamo) in the Senate Chamber.
The Trojan horse consists of the amendment announced in these columns on August 28 by the former president of the Senate and now senator of the Brothers of Italy Marcello Pera. Pera has had the approval of his party, but there is no official convergence for the divisions of the centre-right: the League in particular remains fiercely opposed for fear that, with the prospect of a run-off, in the first round Roberto Vannacci's party, which arrived in the polls between 7 and 8%, could do even more to the detriment of a League reduced to between 5 and 6%. As for Forza Italia, the intention to present an amendment similar to Pera's has finally returned: there is political support - it is explained in the blue house - but only if the novelty is shared by the entire coalition.
The truth, the "brothers" explain outside of notebooks, is that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni herself has not yet decided. There is time until the vote in the Chamber - the text is scheduled to be released on September 9th and the green light is scheduled for September 15th - to open the belly of the Trojan horse and introduce something new that would bring the national system closer to that for the election of mayors in large municipalities. The amendment in question provides that the prize is triggered in the first round only if the first list or coalition reaches 48% of the votes in both Chambers; otherwise, a run-off takes place between the first two lists or coalitions as long as both have obtained 38% of the votes in both Chambers (a game of thresholds also designed to overcome the possible objections of the Council: see the article by Roberto D'Alimonte on page 14). Furthermore, no further alliances are foreseen after the first round: in short, there is no obligation to form an alliance with Vannacci (or with Calenda), but nothing would prevent the voters from converging. But the prime minister's greatest fear is that in the second round the "all against" that was already seen in the referendum on justice could coagulate. On the other hand, leaving the law as it is, with the majority bonus going to those who most exceed 42%, on paper would hand victory to the broad field (in the polls above 42% while the centre-right is slightly below) or would produce the paradoxical effect of the proportionalisation of the system and therefore of no winner.
For the rest, the reintroduction of preferences with blocked list leaders rejected in the Chamber with the secret vote is confirmed, but the gender issue remains: no alternation for the list leaders but only from the second on the list. In short, the first can be a man as long as the second on the list is a woman. «A club against women», is the complaint of all the opposition parliamentarians, from Elena Bonetti of Azione to Luana Zanella of Avs. Six hundred and fifty amendments were presented by the broad camp for obstructionist purposes out of a total of 700. Eight common ones, presented by the group leaders at the press conference, which provide preferences for all parliamentarians without blocked list leaders, stop the obligation to indicate the prime minister candidate which triggered the feud in the primaries, 50 to 50 alternation on the list leaders. «We will build a wall - promises secretary Elly Schlein - and we will continue to talk about the real problems of Italians».
There is also a wall on the possibility of a run-off, despite the issue having long been present in the debate and programs of the centre-left and the Democratic Party. «In all the proposals of our political party, from D'Alema's Bicameral to the Italicum, the national ballot presupposed the overcoming of equal bicameralism - points out the dem senator Dario Parrini -. So it's unconstitutional."
