Decisive day for the electoral law: speeches with final declarations of vote will be held today from 10.30am. Then I vote by secret ballot at 12.30. This is a mechanism which has unleashed the anger of the opposition who have spoken of a "slap in the face of Parliament" and who have asked for manual voting with balls, to prevent the majority deputies from being "controlled".
Today's milestone was reached after the government had gained confidence on 6 October by approving the changes to the first two articles of the text, with an open vote. Then yesterday, in the Chamber, article 3 (which modifies the constituencies of Merano, Bressanone and Bolzano from a territorial point of view) and article 8 (on the extension of non-resident voting to caregivers) were also discussed and approved.
"Today we move from the terrain of political struggle to the judicial one with appeals to the courts and therefore to the Constitutional Court. Unfortunately when this happens it is always the defeat of politics but there is this habit at the end of the legislature on the part of those who govern to manipulate the rules. I sincerely hope that there will be surprises from this morning's vote but there are very few possibilities and I consider it emblematic that in the approval of an electoral law which will definitively nail the lid on the coffin of parliament there have been forms of intimidation indecent towards the deputies of the majority, with video footage in the chamber, party leaders who act as observers, ministers who say they will monitor the votes of the deputies. It is very serious: in a democracy it is the parliament that watches over the government, not the other way around", the secretary of +Europa, Riccardo Magi, told Omnibus on La7.
"This is not an electoral law: it is a desperate attempt at self-preservation by the caste. Meloni changes the rules of the game when the game is about to end in the most cowardly way possible: by dramatically raising the signature thresholds needed to stand for elections. A barrier built specifically to protect those who are already in the halls of power and keep out anyone who wants to challenge him. It is anti-democratic and senseless", declared M5S MP Chiara Appendino, speaking on the Radio Anch'io programme.
"We are convinced that the system is solid. And the exceptions, if there are any, could be limited to non-central aspects." As for the prize, "I heard the leader of the Democratic Party Francesco Boccia define it as abnormal. But was it he who voted for the Italicum which expected 93 in the Chamber or his twin brother? If this is abnormal, what was that, extremely abnormal?". Thus Galeazzo Bignami, group leader of Fdi in the Chamber, in an interview with Corriere della sera, speaking about the electoral law.
"Ensure the effective secrecy of the vote", resorting in this case to the use of the ballot box and the "two balls, one white and one black". This is the request that yesterday came from the opposition to Lorenzo Fontana after the "unprecedented behavior" in the latest secret votes on the electoral law, between "controllers" and voting "with one finger" rather than "with the whole hand". The presidency of the Chamber, through the vice-president on duty Giorgio Mulè, replied, however, that according to the rules voting is done with balls only in the event of a malfunction of the electronic system. But, it is specified, the presidency "can only appeal to everyone's sense of responsibility".
A possible ruling from the Constitutional Court on the appeals announced against the electoral law reform could arrive as early as February. According to experts, the 'timing' involves a series of steps that will take place over at least three and a half months. The appeals "being drafted" by the Network which brings together organisations, associations, committees of constitutionalists, journalists, lawyers and citizens should be presented in around thirty Italian civil courts. They will be filed as soon as the law comes into force, i.e. fifteen days after publication in the Official Journal. The signatories will ask for verification of an infringement of the right to vote linked to the reform. Once the appeal has been filed, the courts should adopt a simplified procedure whereby the judge can set a hearing after 40 days to hear the reasons for the appeal. At that point he will reserve the right to decide and, if he deems it necessary, he will issue an order in which he raises a question of legitimacy of the constitution before the Council. The ordinance must then be notified to the interested parties - starting with the president of the Council of Ministers - and within 20 days of notification the president of the Council could already schedule the hearing for the following 20 days. The objective "is that the Court's ruling arrives in good time" for the elections, said the coordinator of the Network against the reform of the electoral law Roberto Zaccaria, explaining that the appeals are "being drafted" and will be ready to be filed in the courts as soon as the reform comes into force.
