Establishment May Amend Italian Laws to Prevent M5S's Domination in Parliament

Parties with traditionally strong representation in the Italian parliament could try to amend the national electoral law to prevent the populist Five Star Movement (M5S) from getting the majority in possible early parliamentary elections, an M5S member of the Italian parliament told Sputnik on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The new law that came into force in July introduces the principle of the so-called "majority bonus": a party or a coalition that wins at least 40 percent of votes automatically gets 55 percent of seats in the Parliament. The legislation is currently reviewed by the Constitutional Court, verdict on the law is expected in January.

"Our party has already expressed concerns that the initial law would be changed to prevent the party from getting the majority. Left and right parties will definitely try to reach an agreement to amend the law to our disadvantage," Michele Dell’Orco said adding that opinion polls reveal wide public support for anti-establishment M5S.

Earlier in the day, Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said that the country could hold snap parliamentary election as early as February 2017 following the resignation of the country's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi amid the failure of the government-proposed constitutional referendum.

If the election was held in late November, M5S could gather up to 30 percent of votes, according to EMG pollster.