The Chamber of Deputies approved the new electoral law in the late morning. There were 365 votes in favour, 156 against, 40 abstentions. This concludes the first troubled parliamentary passage of the Italicum, which will land today in the Senate.
As far as content is concerned, the latest amendment on preferences was rejected last night by just 20 votes. However, the Chamber approved the heart of the electoral law, passing the amendment on the algorithm which serves to transform votes into seats and which also contains the new thresholds: the electoral barrier at 4,5% for coalition parties, all 8% for non-coalition parties and 12% for coalitions.
Furthermore, the amendment sets the level of consensus that a coalition must obtain in order to obtain the majority bonus, equal to 37% of the seats, at 15%. In the event of failure to reach the quorum, the two coalitions with the most votes will go to the ballot.
A Pd-Fi amendment has also been approved which gives a candidate the possibility of presenting himself in 8 constituencies. Instead, the proposals that did not form part of the agreement between Matteo Renzi and Silvio Berlusconi were rejected, including (in addition to the prefences) also the amendment by 40 deputies of the Democratic Party which made the primaries with gender equality mandatory for choosing candidates. Double gender preference is also rejected.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi comments on twitter: "Politics-defeatism 1 to 0. It is the sign that Italy can change"
