Italy’s parliament overwhelmingly approved slashing the number
of lawmakers, a move the left-leaning government hopes will help
keep the far-right from power.
Reducing the number of MPs and senators in Italy by 345 was a
flagship manifesto promise of the anti-establishment Five Star
Movement, which rules in coalition with the country’s centre-left,
and promised voters it would tackle political elitism and wasteful
spending.
The move, linked to broader electoral law reforms, was passed by
553 MPs, with just 14 voting against and two abstentions.
Italy currently has the second highest number of lawmakers in
the EU after Britain – some 630 elected representatives in the
lower house and 315 in the Senate.
The constitutional reform, which could be subjected to a popular
referendum in the coming months, cuts the number of MPs to 400 and
senators to 200 from the next legislature, with an expected saving
of some €100m a year.
“It’s a well-balanced reform with an excellent profile,” legal
expert Guido Neppi Modona told Il Fatto Quotidiano on
yesterday.
Critics have warned such a cut could affect popular
representation, and increase the influence of lobbyists over
governing institutions – all for a minimal saving that will have
little effect on debt-laden Italy’s budget balance.
This is the country’s eighth attempt to cut its number of
lawmakers since 1983, according to the Open news website.
Five Star (M5S) made the cut a condition of its alliance with
the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), following the collapse of
the previous, far-right coalition in August.
The PD had previously voted against the reductions, but agreed
to support them if it meant clinching a deal with the M5S which
would prevent a return to the polls and keep far-right leader
Matteo Salvini out of power.
The party has insisted the cut be followed by a new electoral
law, and is pushing for the reintroduction of a proportional
representation system.
Under the current mix of proportional representation and
first-past-the-post systems, a winning coalition needs more than 40
percent of the vote to have the necessary parliamentary
majority.
With full proportional representation, parties or coalitions
would need a much bigger majority to form a government.
That would force League leader Matteo Salvini to ditch any plans
to run alone or with a small fellow far-right party at the next
election, and force him instead to turn to former prime minister
Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right Forza Italy party for help,
Italian publication L’Espresso said.
Lorenzo Codogno, former chief economist at the Italian Treasury
Department, said the pressing need to change the electoral law
could serve as glue to hold the coalition together.
He warned however that “I have a feeling that (the electoral
law) won’t happen very soon”.
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