Electoral law to the final challenge, today the decisive vote by secret ballot

The atmosphere on the eve of the event, in the majority, is one of superstitious optimism. Some fears but not too many in view of the final secret ballot vote on the electoral law. Calm? "I always am", replies Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. In fact, it reflects the mood that reigns in the centre-right. Of course, the passage is crucial and, in view of the appointment at 12.30, the opposition have asked the presidency of the Chamber to implement all possible tools to guarantee the secrecy of the vote, including the return to the system of balls and ballot boxes for voting. But the response from President Lorenzo Fontana is that, by regulation, this type of voting is only used in the event of a system malfunction. We vote electronically, therefore, with an appeal to "everyone's responsibility".

It is clear, in any case, that extreme vigilance and attention will be put in place. However, it is not possible - it was also recalled - to prevent last-minute shifts of bench as happened during the preliminary ruling vote with the opposition who protested by speaking of 'lookouts' from the highest benches of the chamber. Furthermore, since the last secret vote, party staff were prevented - after the controversies in July - from having access to the press gallery, the one from which it is also easier to 'control' the deputies' positions, in particular the central ones of FI and Lega. The same will happen with the final vote. Despite the pressure, the controllers and some tension, however, the hypothesis of surprises, at present, seems truly residual. Even more so since the majority showed notable numbers with 228 yes (out of 232 center-right deputies in total) for confidence on article 3 of the reform. Numbers that were also repeated on the approval of Article 8 which saw the abstention of the opposition and which confirmed the out-of-office vote for policies: extended, in the Senate, also to caregivers.

Nothing to be done, however, for the agenda signed by Riccardo Magi, for the digital collection of signatures. The secretary of +Europa - who received applause from his colleagues in the Chamber - is a week into a hunger strike, which he has chosen to continue even after the government reformulated its agenda on the matter by proposing a favorable opinion as a recommendation. A formulation which, Magi said, however, rejecting it, "seems to be the premise for doing nothing" and therefore "the battle continues".

A battle that the opposition will propose again in the Chamber also in the final explanations of vote. In any case, demonstrating the substantial tranquility of most in the centre-right, there are also the discussions that are multiplying in the Transatlantic groups which already have as a refrain the composition of the lists which, if the law also passes the scrutiny of the Consulta, will not exactly be easy to construct given, among other things, the mixed mechanism of list leaders and preferences and the possibility of making up to five multiple candidatures. "I want to go by preference", for example the minister Tommaso Foti continues. In the reasoning of the majority, the issue of election day also remains open with its pros and cons, among other things that of the complication for voters to have more than one ballot with preferences to be expressed in a different way (with the name in the case of Municipalities, with the cross for policies). And, again, there is no shortage of fears about the effect that the preferences could have on the deputies who, the day after the approval of the law, could be pushed into much more decisive activity in the territories. All this just as the government is starting to work on a delicate budget maneuver.