The cabinet has authorized a
confidence vote on a bill for a new election law, sources said
Tuesday, sparking the outrage of parties opposed to it.
The government has tabled three confidence votes, on the
first three of the bill's five articles.
The first vote will take place at 15:45 tomorrow, the second
tomorrow evening, and the third on Wednesday, House whips
decided.
After the government put the bill to the confidence test,
members of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) shouted
at Speaker Laura Boldrini, accusing her of "selling out" to the
government.
Democratic Party (PD) Lower House Whip Ettore Rosato had said
earlier in the day that he had called Premier Paolo Gentiloni to
tell him that the government should put the bill to a confidence
vote to render less arduous its path through parliament.
"After a meeting of the coalition parties, I called Premier
Paolo Gentiloni to tell him that the opinion of the majority is
that it would be opportune to have a confidence vote," Rosato
said, responding to a question put by ANSA.
"The bill is the fruit of a tough balance between the ruling
majority and the opposition and putting it to secret votes would
put the text as a whole into difficulty".
The bill, nicknamed the Rosatellum 2 after Rosato, would
harmonise the present differing laws for the House and the
Senate.
It would introduce a system that is two-thirds proportional
representation and one-third first-past-the-post system aimed at
favouring the emergence of a winner.
There are fears the next general election, expected early in
2018, could be inconclusive with the current laws.
The bill has the backing of the ruling PD, Silvio
Berlusconi's opposition centre-right Forza Italia (FI), the
Northern League (LN) and the small centrist Popular Alternative
(AP) group.
But the M5S has rejected it, saying the bill is designed to
stop them winning, and some small groups on the left are also
against.
M5S Lower House whip Simone Valente said Tuesday that a
confidence vote would be a "subversive act against democracy,
the freedom to vote and citizens' sovereignty".
"All of this is with the complicity of the Northern League
and Forza Italia which, on paper, are in the opposition, but
actually are part of a big, shameful shady deal against the
public," he said.
M5S heavyweight Alessandro Di Battista protested outside
parliament, slamming the election-law bill in front of a crowd
of M5S supporters, but was jeered by some supporters of a small
rightwing party, MLI.
Roberto Speranza, the coordinator of the leftwing MDP group,
also warned against putting the bill to a confidence vote.
"Putting the the election law to a confidence vote shortly
before parliament is dissolved (for elections) goes beyond the
limits of democracy," said Speranza.
"We are playing with fire here - a law that takes away the
citizens' sovereignty to choose those elected gets approved by
taking sovereignty away from parliament. I don't want to believe
that it is true".
Leftwing parties will protest against the government's
decision to put its election-law bill to a confidence vote at
17:30 outside the Pantheon in Rome Wednesday, Arturo Scotto of
the MDP said.
MDP heavyweight and former head of the PD, Pier Luigi
Bersani, said tomorrow the left would be outside the Pantheon
demonstrating "for democracy".
The MDP split from the PD over long-running and deep
disagreements with leader Matteo Renzi, the former premier.
Nicola Fratoianni, leader of the Italian Left (SI) party,
called the confidence votes "the umpteenth disgrace of this
legislature".
Berlusconi, for his part, said FI would be "loyal" to the
cross-party deal.
"It's not the law we wanted but we will vote for it, given
that there's something in it that displeases everyone," he said.
President Sergio Mattarella, meanwhile, welcomed
parliament's effort to pass a new election law, while expressing
no judgement about the bill being examined, sources at the head
of State's office said on Tuesday.
The president hopes that a new election law is passed with
the broadest possible support and is not making any assessments
about an eventual decision to put a bill to a confidence vote,
which regards the relationship between the government and
parliament, the sources said.
Minister for Relations with Parliament, PD veteran Anna
Finocchiaro, said the government had "always" said that it would
favour agreement on a new election law and thus it had been
"coherent".
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