Three-term ban a limitation of democracy - Salvini

(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 1 - Deputy Premier and Transport Minister on Friday reiterated his position in favour of lifting the existing ban on regional governors serving three consecutive terms in office, saying it is a limitation of democracy.
    "If citizens find themselves good mayors or governors, they should be free to reelect them or to send them home, they are the ones to decide," said Salvini, whose right-wing League party was behind a recent failed attempt at committee stage to change the rules on standing for election in a bill currently before parliament.
    "In my opinion, the same applies as for parliamentarians: there is no limit," he continued.
    "Some (lawmakers) have been doing it for 40 years and people vote for them," he added, concluding: "If we are the only ones who think this way and all the other parties are against it, I take note, but it would be a limitation of choice and of democracy for citizens".
    Last week the Senate Constitutional Affairs Committee rejected an amendment presented by the League removing the existing two-mandate limit to allow governors to serve three consecutive terms in office.
    Representatives of Premier Giorgia Meloni's right-wing Brothers of Italy (FDI) party - the main party in the right-centre majority - and of the League's other majority coalition partner Forza Italia voted against, together with the main opposition groups, the Democratic Party (Pd) and the Five Star Movement (M5S).
    Salvini afterwards played down the rejection, insisting that in parliament the assembly, not the committee, is sovereign.
    Meloni is said to be against dropping the two-term limit because she wants more regions to be in the hands of representatives of her FdI in order to reflect the fact that the party is now the driving force of the majority alliance.
    Under the existing rules, several regional governors including the League's highly popular Veneto Governor Luca Zaia face having to step down at the next regional elections - in Zaia's case, in 2025. (ANSA).