The new electoral law is on the launch pad and lands in the Chamber on Tuesday in the Chamber: we will vote on Wednesday with even night sessions. "We will bring a good, coherent and rational text - said the rapporteur Emanuele Fiano (Pd) - We are in the finishing straight: the work has essentially been completed with the approval of my maxi-amendment which contains the body of the law electoral".
In recent days the reform has undergone important changes. Compared to the text on which Pd, Forza Italia and Movimento 5 Stelle had found the first agreement, the blocked list leaders have been skipped and single-member constituencies have been reduced from 303 to 225. These are the latest news to emerge from the debate of the last few days in the Constitutional Affairs commission to the Chamber. With this text, Italy definitively chooses the proportional system with all that follows: only after the vote, and not before, will it be possible to know who will govern and with which majority. Which does not help governance unless only one of the big parties prevails over the others, but this is a scenario that cannot be foreseen at the moment. The 5% barrier to small parties is positive, clear and without hesitation: it will force the minor formations to unite before going to the vote. Provided there are no changes that cannot be foreseen at the moment: the agreement between Fi, Lega, M5S and Pd should be a good omen.
THE NEW SYSTEM OF THE LAW
The new law - which is inspired by the German one, but differs from it in several substantial points - provides for an entirely proportional model, in which however the seats are assigned in part with single-member constituencies (generally adopted in majority voting systems) and in part with multi-nominal lists (typical of proportional systems).
COLLEGES AND DISTRICTIONS
Italy (excluding Trentino Alto Adige, where the Mattarellum will continue to be used) is divided into 225 single-member constituencies (where each party will present only one candidate) and into 28 plurinominal constituencies (each with lists of 2-3 names for each match).
SINGLE VOTE
Voters can express only one preference, which applies both to the candidate in the single-member constituency and to the list connected to him in the multi-member constituency. Separate voting is therefore not permitted, which instead is one of the characterizing elements of the German model. In practice, with the same vote the elector chooses the candidate in his constituency and the party connected to him. If he doesn't like the party he will still have to vote for it to advance the preferred candidate. If he doesn't like the candidate, he will still have to vote for him so as not to give up his favorite party. This mechanism, different from what the German system envisages, annuls the majority effect and accentuates the pure proportional characteristic. Hence the risks of future ungovernability.
WHO IS ELECTED
After the elections, the votes are counted throughout Italy and, on the basis of the percentage, it is established how many seats each party has. Warning: this calculation must be done at both national and district level. The first result helps to understand how many MPs each party has, while the second determines which candidates are elected.
In fact, in each constituency, the parties draw up a ranking: the first to be elected are the winners of the constituencies, followed by the names included in the blocked list.
THE BARREL AT 5%
Finally, the most controversial aspect: the threshold of 5 percent. Basically, the small parties that get up to 4,9% of the votes remain outside Parliament and the larger parties consequently obtain a premium, because the seats obtained by those who remain below the threshold are divided. We are not talking about crumbs: in Germany, for example, this mechanism allows the Cdu to pass from 41 to 49% of the seats.
The German model, however, also provides for a form of protection for minor political formations, admitting al Bundestag even the parties which – despite not having reached 5% – have won at least three single-member constituencies. Norm that is not foreseen in the Italian reform project.
