An important aspect of the new electoral law is the reintroduction after 23 years of preferences for choosing elected officials. But on closer inspection these are halfway preferences, given that the list leaders are blocked and that preferences can be expressed by placing a cross next to the name up to a maximum of three only from the second on the list, with the obligation of gender alternation in case of more than one preference.
The preferences will help choose the candidates in the multi-member proportional constituencies, which are 49 in the Chamber. The voter will see printed at the top of the ballot the name of the blocked list leader chosen by the party secretariats and, following that, another six names preceded by a cross: up to three crosses can be crossed next to the chosen names, with the foresight that in the case of more than one preference a name must be of a different gender. The novelty of the crosses instead of writing the names in full is borrowed from the electoral system in force for the Tuscany region, a system which however does not provide for list leaders: the rationale of the rule on "facilitated preference" is the elimination of the possibility of controlling the preferential vote through the different ways of writing the name (Paolo Rossi, Rossi Paolo, P. Rossi etc.), a control often used in the past, especially in the South.
On the ballot, at the bottom, the voter will also find 3 other names: these are the candidates in the so-called lists of 70 deputies and 35 senators, lists that are triggered only with the majority bonus for those who will most exceed 42% of the votes divided by constituency lists of 3 names. These names are on the card only for information purposes, so to speak, since it is not possible to express preferences on this list of three. And since the law obliges the candidates in the list to nominate as head of list - ("the candidate in the constituency lists presented for the purposes of attribution of the governability bonus... is a candidate in at least one multi-member constituency in the position of head of the list, or in the positions subsequent to that of head of the list provided that all the candidates who precede him in the same multi-member constituency list are also candidates in the constituency lists presented for the purposes of the attribution of the governability bonus") - the conclusion is that the voter will tend to find at least one name repeated in the lower part of the ballot.
But are these real preferences or is it "a scam", as the opposition denounces? Considering that the medium-small parties such as Forza Italia, Lega and Avs will elect almost only leaders, it can be estimated that the elected representatives expressly indicated by the voters with the preferences will be in the next Parliament between 30 and 40% maximum, substantially in the wake of the larger parties: Fratelli d'Italia, Pd and partly M5s.
The 40/60 gender quota applies to the lists as a whole but not to the list leaders: a lack that will certainly have a negative impact on female representation. In truth, the absence of gender quotas in the list leaders is partly compensated by the 40/60 quotas in the so-called lists of 70 deputies and 35 senators which start with the majority bonus: the candidates in the constituency lists must necessarily be, as mentioned above, leaders in the multi-member constituencies or second in the list behind another candidate in the lists in the case of multiple candidatures.
