Confidence vote on election law - PD (4)

(ANSA) - Rome, October 10 - Democratic Party (PD) Lower House whip Ettore Rosato said Tuesday that he had called Premier Paolo Gentiloni to tell him that the government should put a bill for a new election law to a confidence vote. "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 inclusive with the current laws.
    The bill has the backing of the ruling PD, Silvio Berlusconi's opposition centre-right Forza Italia, the Northern League and the small centrist Popular Alternative (AP) group.
    But the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) has rejected it, saying the bill is designed to stop them winning, and some small groups on the left are also against.