Electoral law: the government places its confidence in the Chamber

The new electoral law returns to the Chamber. This afternoon, 5 October, confidence was placed on the first two articles of the text, which contain the rules on preferences (as modified in the Senate) and on the third, which redesigns the constituencies of Merano, Bolzano and Bressanone. Since it was possible to request a secret vote, the government, out of extreme caution, opted for confidence.

The explanations of vote on Article 1 will begin tomorrow at 12.10pm, with roll-call voting no earlier than 2pm. The explanations of vote on Article 2 and the roll-call vote will follow. On Wednesday, from 9am, explanations of vote on Article 3 will begin, with roll-call voting no earlier than 10.50am. At the end and until 1.30 pm we will move on to voting on article 8 of the electoral law. From 4.15pm, with a possible night continuation, we will move forward with the agenda. On Thursday, starting from 10.30 am, the final vote declarations on the measure will take place live on TV: the final vote is expected no earlier than 12.30 pm.

This is therefore a decisive week for Giorgia Meloni's government and for its "Stabilicum", as the planned electoral mechanism has been renamed. The Prime Minister - mindful of what happened in the first reading in the Chamber - has repeatedly underlined that a possible scuttling of the text, especially by snipers within the ranks of the majority, will have consequences on the stability of the executive.

Opposition: "Majority is afraid, slap in the face of Parliament"

"The placing of confidence" on the electoral law "is unworthy" and "we express the deepest discomfort for a slap in the face to this branch of Parliament", said Federico Fornaro (Pd) in the Chamber. "Confidence is placed on 53 amendments presented by the opposition, anything but an obstructionist attitude", he added. "You are afraid of the stability of your majority and of the secret vote which fortunately will take place", added the dem. "You are afraid of democracy and your parliamentarians", the words of Filiberto Zaratti of Avs. "We are putting parliamentary democracy in the attic," said Enrica Alifano of the M5s. "Stop, we can make more reasonable legislation", the appeal of Riccardo Magi of Più Europa.

The electoral law of the Meloni government: majority bonus, preferences and list leaders blocked

The electoral law revolves around a proportional system, which however is corrected by a fixed majority bonus for whoever has obtained the highest number of votes, but only if the 42% threshold is exceeded. The mechanism for choosing those elected is a mix of preferences and blocked list leaders. In addition to proportional representation with bonus and preferences, the reform provides for the indication of the prime minister at the time of depositing the mark, a ceiling on the majority seats (220 deputies and 113 senators) and thresholds which remain the same as those of the Rosatellum in order to be able to sit in Parliament (therefore 10% for coalitions and 3% for lists). However, no threshold is foreseen to contribute to the calculation for the purposes of the national electoral figure and therefore the majority bonus.

The other news

The text then increases the minimum number of signatures required per constituency from 1,500 to 6,000 for those who do not already sit in Parliament, while those with two groups or at least one group formed by 31 December 2025 remain exempt (the cases of Italia viva and Action, not instead of +Europa or FnV). Instead, the geographical distributions of the Foreign constituency for the Chamber are reduced from 4 to 2 (Europe and non-EU) and from 4 to a single area for the Senate. Non-resident voting is also introduced in the place where one has been temporarily domiciled for at least 9 months (three in the case of people who are outside the Municipality for treatment). During the discussion in the Senate this possibility was extended to caregivers.