Electoral law, the discussion does not stop. And it is the ballot the issue that is holding sway within the majority. Forza Italy – according to what has been learned – has not presented any amendments on the runoff. The hypothesis that the Azzurri would formulate a proposal to amend the electoral law on the two-round system had been circulating in the last few hours, but in the end, on this specific issue, only the text by the senator from FdI, Marcellus Pera.
A choice, that of FI, which responds to the party line, namely that Forza Italia maintains an "absolutely secular attitude" on the runoff. On this issue, the strong doubts of the Alloy and it must be said that even in FdI there are some dubious positions. The issue will be resolved in any case during the discussion in the Chamber, which begins from September 9th.
Electoral law, opposition amendments
Stop the obligation to indicate the candidate for prime minister, preferences for all parliamentarians, alternating leaders at 50% and raising to 45% the threshold beyond which the majority premium with the lowering to 210 and 105 of the maximum number of deputies and senators that can be obtained by winning. These are the issues addressed in the joint amendments presented by the opposition, Pd, M5S, Avs and Iv The electoral law reform at the Senate. The broad camp promises a battle in the commission, with "strong obstructionism," starting Wednesday, September 2nd.
Electoral law, the Vannacci factor
The opposition, moreover, is attacking, accusing the majority of being more concerned with preparing a reform "à la carte," "for their own use and consumption," to stay in government, than with reforms to solve Italians' problems. But the harshest attack, in all fairness, comes from Roberto Vannacci which speaks of a text that is continually reworked under the pressure of fear of polls that show FnV constantly growing.
"But weren't we irrelevant?" the general attacks on social media. "If we don't count for anything," he accuses, "why build a barrier? Perhaps because the problem isn't Vannacci. The problem is the Italians who decided to vote for him. And when politicians start studying the rules to defend themselves from voter consensus, it means fear has entered the government." Vannacci factor or not, the center-right will, in any case, delve into the runoff issue in the coming days, and it's not out of the question that the leaders will ultimately need to make a decision on this point. For now, however, a series of amendments will be tabled to allow them to be discussed in the Chamber, the real dead line for choices.
Electoral law: what changes?
The model of double shift proposed should follow the one put forward by some constitutionalists such as Stephen Ceccanti:
A runoff election would be held if no party reached 48% of the vote in either chamber, but both the top two coalitions were above 38%. If this second threshold were reached by only one party in both chambers, it would receive the bonus if it reached 42% or more (although it is possible that this threshold could be slightly lowered, as in the first version of the reform, which also included a runoff election).
Then, there will not be a unitary amendment on the law from the majority. “anti-fragmentation” Introduced during the examination in the Chamber and which provides that the votes of coalition forces below 3% (except for the biggest loser) will not be counted for the purposes of awarding the bonus. On this point, individual amendments with different thresholds, at 1 or 2%, would be presented. The amendment to reintroduce the preferences with gender alternation from the second name but, at the moment, not for the top candidates, a choice that, already at the time of the rejection in Montecitorio had caused more than a little discontent among the female parliamentarians.
