Electoral law, the text in the chamber in September

More agitation at Palazzo Madama over the electoral law dossier. Both on ‘timing’ and on the preference node. The deadline for amendments should be set for early August, but in any case the votes in the Constitutional Affairs Commission and subsequently in the Chamber should take place in September.

But the wall against wall between the majority and the opposition remains, just as the tension between the Brothers of Italy and Forza Italia remains over the possibility of citizens choosing the representatives in Parliament.

The Prime Minister: “Useful law for governing without mess-ups”

“I think it is useful for the nation to have an electoral law that ensures governability and stability, and allows those who win the elections to govern without problems or rainbow majorities”, said the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in an interview with Il Giornale. “This is the heart of the reform and it is what drives the left crazy, which is used to governing even when it loses elections, thanks precisely to the games of the palace”, he underlined, “but this nation deserves not to go back. And I have not changed my mind about preferences”.

And it is precisely on this last point that there are differences in the centre-right. “The senators will decide”, reiterated the deputy prime minister and leader of FI, Antonio Tajani, “there has been discontent in all the parties. We will see if there will be an amendment in the Senate, we will examine the contents. We are fine with the law as it is”. Forza Italia took stock of the issue of the electoral law, the indication will be to vote in favor of the preferences. FdI’s amendment should be filed with the Commission. And the risk is that of distinction in the coalition. “The electoral law is already an excellent law as it came out, and I perfectly agree with Forza Italia on this. However, it can still be improved by introducing preferences”, observed the organizational head of FdI, Giovanni Donzelli.

In short, the Scrofa party wants to try again. “If there are votes against we will draw the consequences”, observes a ‘big’ member of the Brothers of Italy. “The League is fine with the concept of preference and majority bonus”, says the deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini. The opposition remains on the barricades: “The government that stops and blocks parliamentary work to discuss how to draft an electoral law, to perpetuate the power of those who know they are losing it, the government in office and that even stops to protect party friends”, observes former prime minister Giuseppe Conte, “and we cannot allow Parliament to be reduced to Colle Oppio”.

The ‘Melillo amendments’ to the Justice Decree

Distances remain in the centre-right also in the dossier of trawling interceptions, with Fratelli d’Italia intending to widen the net and Forza Italia making a blockade. The Justice Decree will arrive in the Chamber with the basic text, without a mandate for the rapporteur. Few changes will then be inserted in the hemicycle and FI’s belief is that the so-called ‘Melillo amendments’ presented by Fdi in the Commission will not be there, even if at the moment they are still under discussion and there is no official decision on the matter.