The government's Italicum
electoral reform bill is comprised of four articles, with the
latest version approved by the Senate on March 12 this year.
Premier Matteo Renzi has asked for a vote of confidence on
Articles 1, 2, and 4.
Two more confidence votes on articles 2 and 4 were slated
for Thursday, with a final vote on the entire bill expected
sometime next week.
Article 1 covers the way the Lower House is elected. It
awards a 15% bonus to the party that obtains 40% of the popular
vote, guaranteeing the winner an absolute majority.
The winner's bonus consists of 340 seats out of 630,
bringing the winning party to 54% of overall seats.
A run-off vote decides who gets the winner's bonus if no
party reaches 40%. Parties are not allowed to team up or form
coalitions in the run-off vote.
This article would make sure the winning party has a
governing majority, and also that it won't need to enter into
coalitions in order to govern.
Losing parties who have garnered at least 3% of the
national vote would divide the remaining 290 seats between them,
in proportion to the number of votes won.
Article 1 also divides the national territory into 20
electoral districts - one per region - and these are subdivided
into a total of 100 districts.
Voters can pick up to two candidates as well as the party
list. Each party must present its list in alternating gender
order, and voter preferences must be given to a man and a woman
in the interests of gender equity, or the vote will be annulled.
The head of each party list in each district is blocked -
that is, he or she is nominated by the party and automatically
wins a seat in parliament if the party wins.
After that, the candidates with the most preferences get
seats. The party that wins a majority will seat at least 240
candidates that have been picked through voter preferences.
If passed, the Italicum will be applicable as of July 1,
2016.
It only applies to the Lower House because a separate
Constitutional reform bill is being designed to turn the Senate
into a leaner assembly of regional government representatives
with reduced lawmaking powers. If reforms are approved, the
Upper House will no longer have the power to give or withdraw
confidence in the government.
Confidence votes on electoral laws have only been called
twice before in the history of modern Italy - once in 1923 with
the ratification of the so-called Acerbo law, which consecrated
the rise to power of the Fascist party, and again in 1953, when
a Christian Democratic government pushed through a law awarding
65% of Lower House seats to the party or coalition that won over
50% of the vote.
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