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PD rebels 'warn' Renzi on Italicum

SEL also chimes in

Redazione Ansa

(ANSA) - Rome, April 14 - A dissenting leftwing minority within the ruling Democratic Party (PD) of Premier Matteo Renzi said Tuesday it will continue to fight the government's electoral reform bill when it returns to parliament. Nicknamed the Italicum, the bill is the result of a deal between Renzi and former center-right premier Silvio Berlusconi, a fact which has produced discomfort within the ranks of both leaders' parties since it was first announced early in 2014.
    And while the government has repeatedly said it would only call for a confidence vote as a last resort, many in the premier's party are bristling in the belief it intends to do just that in a bid to quash dissent rather than amend its bill.
    Putting the Italicum to a confidence vote "would be totally wrong", MP Nico Stumpo from the PD dissenters' caucus said ahead of the group's meeting with the premier on Wednesday.
    "I know I won't vote for the Italicum (as it stands)," said leading PD rebel Pippo Civati.
    "I know if they call for a confidence vote three times, I will refuse it three times...everyone will lose, including those who are certain of victory at all costs," Civati wrote on his Facebook page.
    Dissenting PD MPs who sit on the Lower House constitutional affairs committee said earlier in the day they will ask to be replaced so they won't have to go against their caucus when they vote.
    Also in the opposition on this issue is the small leftwing Left Ecology Freedom (SEL) party, which sometimes runs local candidates on shared tickets with the PD.
    "I fear Renzi has been adding up the bill without the innkeeper," said SEL Lower House whip Arturo Scotto. "Clearly the premier risks not having the numbers to approve his Italicum. He should realize this and talk to parliament".
    "The electoral law should have neither godfathers nor masters," Scotto said.
    The Italicum would, among other provisions, award bonus seats to the party that garners at least 40% of the vote to ensure it has a working majority in parliament.
    A run-off round of voting will take place to decide who gets the bonus seats if no party crosses the 40% threshold.
    Italy's current dysfunctional electoral law - the so-called pigsty law - has been struck down by the Constitutional Court, and has been blamed for contributing to the inconclusive outcome to the 2013 general election.
   

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