Italy's parliament approves controversial electoral reform
Italy's Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, has successfully steered her "Stabilicum" electoral reform bill through parliament after it was passed by the Chamber of Deputies by 227 votes to 164 in the final vote. The Senate – the second chamber of the Italian parliament – had already approved the bill in mid-September.
An own goal?
The electoral reform could ultimately backfire on Meloni, argues Der Standard:
“She may well have just scored her biggest political own goal: Admittedly, the divided opposition still has neither a joint manifesto nor a joint lead candidate to put forward ahead of next year's elections. But because Meloni's right-wing coalition is coming under growing pressure from the far-right General Roberto Vannacci, her victory – once taken for granted – is now in jeopardy. The majority bonus would then go not to her, but to the opposition.”
Tailor-made for Meloni
La Repubblica rails:
“With a political sleight of hand, Giorgia Meloni has forced her own majority to pass an electoral law that only she and her inner circle wanted. ... She amended it based on polls that gradually measured her strength, the weakness of her allies and the emergence of an internal challenger on the right – retired General Roberto Vannacci, who threatens to throw a spanner in the works. The only stability the 'Melonellum' seeks is that of the power of those who wanted it. The only decision left to the voters is that pertaining to a significantly smaller proportion of the seats, which are allocated via preferential votes.”
Childish interpretation of the two-party system
Although in theory a new electoral law should have been supported by all political forces, that was not the case here, writes Corriere della Sera:
“The electoral reform pursues the in some respects commendable objective of re-establishing a more transparent and straightforward relationship between politics and the public – were it not for the fact that, once again, it is exclusively the expression of the governing majority. Once again, there is a weakness that stems from the parties' inability to reach a broad consensus. ... In Italy, there is a childish interpretation of the two-party system, which 'in principle' rules out any agreement with opponents.”
Better to build trust
This is not the way to tackle a democratic crisis, public law professor Nicoletta Perlo warns in Le Monde:
“From a French perspective, this law cannot be reduced to a mere matter of electoral procedure. Above all, it reveals the parties' inability to respond to the crisis of political representation. They seem to forget that in failing to restore citizens' trust in politics, they are jeopardising their very existence. ... The challenge, then, is to restore elections as the primary means of political participation. France, for its part, would be wrong to seek the solution in a reform of the electoral system. ... Democracy is not strengthened by changing the electoral rules: citizens must be given reasons to vote once more.”