A new voting law for Italy

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

Souce: Europe http://ift.tt/2zmI4tI

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