Italy's parliament approves Meloni's controversial electoral law reform

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni successfully pushed the controversial new electoral law through parliament in a final vote. The reform cleared the last parliamentary hurdle in the Chamber of Deputies in Rome and was finally passed with 227 votes to 164. Before the vote, Meloni had threatened to resign if the reform failed in parliament.

"We are introducing rules that are intended to promote the stability and parliamentary cohesion of every government," Meloni wrote after the vote on X. "Whoever wins must also be able to govern."

The center-left opposition, however, accuses the head of government of wanting to secure power before the upcoming parliamentary elections in 2027. In a heated debate, the opposition accused the government of disregarding democratic principles.

The aim should be fewer changes of government

With the reform, Meloni wants to ensure that the winner of a parliamentary election receives a majority bonus if he can get 42 percent of the vote. A new coalition would then get 70 additional seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 35 additional seats in the Senate. A narrow election victory could turn into a comfortable majority.

With a more stable majority, changes in government would no longer occur so frequently, according to the Prime Minister's reasoning. Meloni's right-wing alliance has been in power for almost four years - longer than any other of Italy's 70 governments since World War II.

First attempt failed

Meloni's attempt to revise the right to vote failed at the first attempt in July. Her coalition of three right-wing and conservative parties actually has a solid majority in parliament. That's why MPs from their own camp must also have voted against it.

For Meloni, the defeat in July was delicate. There was therefore great concern about a defeat within the coalition in today's secret final vote.

Opposition politicians on hunger strike

The left-wing opposition accuses Meloni of wanting to gain an advantage for herself, her Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) party and the coalition as a whole. In protest against certain contents of the new electoral law, the opposition politician Riccardo Magi from the Più Europa (More Europe) party even started a hunger strike at the end of September.

There are also constitutional concerns. The Italian Constitutional Court could possibly thwart the government's plans and stop the reform. According to media reports, constitutional lawyers point to the court's case law, which has prohibited excessive distortion of the vote ratio in favor of the election winner.