Italy's Proportional Voting Leaves No Alternative to PD-FI Coalition - Senator

The proportional representation system under the Italicum law partially upheld by the Constitutional Court deprives citizens of the right to directly determine the future government making its fate dependent on talks between old rivals - the Democratic Party and Forza Italia, a member of the Italian Senate's Constitutional Affairs Committee said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – On Wednesday, Italy's highest court partially upheld the so-called 2016 Italicum law entrenching two different types of proportional representation systems in the lower and upper house of the local parliament — a proportional representation with an express majority correction at the Chamber of Deputies, meaning that any party or coalition that gets at least 40 percent of the vote can count on 55 percent, or 340 out of 630 seats, and a simple proportional representation in the Senate, which pose risks of deadlock due to probable different majorities controlling the two chambers.

"This is a system that doesn't allow the citizens to choose directly, with their vote, the kind of government they want, but instead, the forming of a new government is dependent on the talks between political parties, after the vote…. Leaving things as they are and voting under this system (maybe duly adjusted where necessary) suits many people…. A large coalition government (i.e. an alliance between old enemies, PD and FI) is likely to be Italy's political fate for many years," Alessandro Maran, a PD member, said.

A majoritarian system, according to the politician, is unlikely to take shape before the next elections due to the complicated legislation procedure.

The Italicum law entered into force on July 1, 2016 and was then challenged in court. The reform was primarily aimed at providing more political stability in the country by granting an automatic majority to the leading party in the parliament's lower house. The law was adopted under the assumption that a reform of the Senate, drastically reducing its powers, would follow, but the December 4 constitutional referendum failed, leaving Italy's political system in a deadlock.

Italy was due to hold elections in 2018, however, on December 6, Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said that the country could hold snap parliamentary elections as early as February 2017, following the resignation of the country's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi who staked his political future on Senate's reform approval.