The request of one million two hundred thousand voters to vote for abolish the current electoral law it won't follow up. There Constitutional Court, after a long meeting in the council chamber, has in fact declared both questions presented "inadmissible".. In the evaluations of the Consulta, the consolidated orientation for which a referendum cannot be followed up if there is the risk of opening a legislative vacuum prevailed. In practice, the judges held that, if the questions were successful, the country would be left without an electoral law and that it was therefore not possible to revive the previous legislation of the Mattarellum, as was the intention of the referendaries.
So far, the facts. It is a widespread opinion, also confirmed in Court circles, that with the publication of the sentence (within 20 days) a pressing invitation to Parliament will also be made known, to change the current legislation deemed inadequate and with constitutional doubts. An invitation that was also addressed in 2008 and to which Parliament has, however, so far been very careful not to follow up.
The reaction to the decision of the Council of Antonio Di Pietro, who did not hesitate to speak of the "regime", accusing the judges of wanting to please the head of state. Equally indignant and in no uncertain terms was the reaction of the Quirinale, which defined those of the leader of Italy of values as "vulgar insinuations".
The word should now return to Parliament which, if it receives the probable invitation of the Council, should soon launch a new law. Which he could have done even pending a referendum consultation. Which, once fixed, could have acted as an "external constraint" to speed up the work of the Chambers. In short, if you wanted to avoid going back to the previous legislation (Mattarellum), you could more easily find an agreement between the parties to approve the reform.
It is no coincidence that the secretary of the Democratic Party Bersani said, commenting on the decision of the constitutional judges: "Now it's up to Parliament". Will it really be like this? This is to be hoped for, but indications in the opposite direction are not lacking. It is true that some glimmers have also opened in the PDL to be able to put their hands on the new electoral law, but everything is subordinated to a longer and more complex revision of the institutional set-up. It is then known that Berlusconi has never been silent about his support for the current legislation, whether you call it “porcellum” or not.
Nor can we fail to notice that just today, with the vote he said no to the arrest of the PDL deputy Cosentino, the convergence between the Pdl and the League, or at least a part of it, has been re-proposed. This fact suggests that both Berlusconi and Bossi are tempted to re-propose the old alliance when it comes to voting. Which, as is known, is greatly benefited by the electoral system in force. Of course they are all hypotheses, for now only from school, awaiting verification of the evolution of the debate between the parties. Yet the impression is legitimate that, in the absence of an external link and in the presence of a newfound harmony between Berlusconi and Bossi, changing the electoral law is far from easy.
