Const' court KOs electoral referendum

(ANSA) - Rome, January 16 - The Constitutional Court on Thursday ruled that an electoral law referendum proposed by the nationalist opposition League party was inadmissible.
    The reform aimed at abrogating norms on proportional distribution of seats and turn Italy's election law into a purely first past the post system.
    The top court declared it inadmissible because "excessively open to manipulation".
    The referendum question was proposed by eight regional governments (Veneto, Piedmont, Lombardy, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Sardinia, Abruzzo, Basilicata and Liguria), all controlled by the League-led centre right.
    League leader Matteo Salvini voiced dismay and anger at the court ruling.
    "It's a disgrace, it's the old system defending itself," he said.
    Salvini said the ruling anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) and their partners in the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) "remain clinging to their seats".
    "We're sorry that they won't let the people decide: this is a return to the prehistory of the worst Italian politics".
    Minister for Relations with Parliament Federico D'Incà, of the M5S, said it was now time to move forward with "a proportional electoral law with a high entry bar that ensures a more cohesive political system, more representative houses and moer stable governments".