Italy – Meloni wins the first vote on the controversial electoral reform

ROME, October 6 /ATSH-ANSA/ – The government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has passed the first hurdle in parliament for the controversial electoral reform, after the Chamber of Deputies voted in favour of the first article of the draft law.

In the vote, 226 deputies supported the first article, 147 voted against, while three abstained.

Meloni’s government has tied the confidence vote to all three articles of the draft law.

The votes on the other two articles are expected to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday.

If the government loses one of the votes, the possibility of early elections could return to the scene, while Italy’s regular parliamentary elections are scheduled for next year.

The reform provides that the coalition which wins at least 42 per cent of the votes in the parliamentary elections will receive a considerable seat bonus.

Specifically, the winners would be added 70 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 35 seats in the Senate.

Meloni argues that the change would enable governments to have a more stable majority even when they do not receive more than 50 per cent of the votes, reducing the fluctuations and frequent changes of government in Italy.

But the opposition opposes the reform, describing it as a system designed to favour the prime minister and her coalition.

The draft law has been dubbed by critics with the names “Stabilicum” and “Melonellum”.

Meloni has kept together her coalition, composed of three right-wing and conservative parties, for almost four years, making it the longest-lived government in Italy since the Second World War.

After the separate votes on the three articles, parliament is expected to hold the final, secret vote on the whole law on Thursday.

The opposition hopes that some deputies of the governing coalition will vote against.

The Italian Senate already approved the draft law in mid-September. /a.jor.