ITALY’S late dictator, Benito Mussolini, once denied it was difficult to govern the Italians, adding “It is simply pointless.” But what if it were impossible?
The question is posed by a new electoral law, approved by the Senate on October 26th after a stormy passage through parliament. About a third of the members of both houses of parliament will be elected on a first-past-the-post basis; the remainder by proportional representation. Only parties that win more than 3%, and electoral alliances that get more than 10%, of the national vote will be admitted to parliament.
The law harmonises the rules for the Senate and the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies. But it fails to resolve a problem at the heart of Italian politics since the last general election in 2013: a party with a quarter of the vote, Beppe Grillo’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), has so far refused to ally with any of the others. That means that every government since has been an...Continue reading
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