The Government did it again this time. The Chamber voted for confidence with 316 yes, seven votes more than the quorum necessary to confirm the Executive (majority at 309). The no's were 301. The reading of the results by the president of the chamber, Gianfranco Fini, was greeted with a roar from the benches of the majority. At the same time, outside Montecitorio, a crowd of outraged he animated the protest with the cry of: “Shame! Shame!".
The majority is 318 votes, but "two deputies – explained Silvio Berlusconi on the sidelines of the vote – were prevented from coming, so we are 316 out of the 318 we were". Previously the opposition had chosen not to attend the premiere call to make sure that the majority did not reach the quorum. An attempt failed due to five radical deputies and by two from the SVP, who entered the Chamber to vote.
At the second appeal, the rest of the opposition could not do anything but participate in the vote. "It seems clear to me - said Rosy Bindi, president of the Democratic Party - that after the events of recent days the radicals are out of our group".
This was "yet another fool of the opposition, who miscalculated, implementing the old tricks of the most sinister parliamentarianism and offering an image on which Italians will reflect", he commented the premier even before the second call ends.
Disagrees Dario Franceschini: “Every time they lose pieces – said the leader of the Democratic Party hotly – and the opposition has the duty to try every time … They obtained 316 votes, but they spoke of 322, some even 330. With each vote of confidence they lose one , two or three votes. At this rate we are not very far…”.
In addition to the attempted obstructionism of the oppositions, the Government today also resisted the useless defections of the "Responsible" Santo Versace and Luciano Sardelli and of the two "scajolani" pidiellini Fabio Gava and Giustina Destro, who did not vote. The former Minister of Economic Development was instead present in the Chamber, where he voted in favor of the Executive. "If we don't change, however - Scajola specified - the names of the deputies who will not vote will multiply and it will crash".
But the most authoritative pretender to the role of the balance remains Umberto Bossy: "Berlusconi will go to vote when we decide," said the leader of the League, commenting on the outcome of the vote. But to those who asked him if at this point the government has the means to reach 2013, the Senatùr answered a curt "I don't know".
As for Pier Luigi Bersani, leader of the Democratic Party, his conviction is that "the Government will die of trust", because "the alternative is now strengthened".
