Lawmakers approved a fully proportional system with a seat bonus for any alliance winning more than 42 percent, by 227 votes to 164. The opposition called the law a device to keep the coalition in power.
Italy's lower house gave final approval on Thursday to an electoral reform championed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Reuters reported. In a secret ballot, lawmakers voted 227 to 164 for a fully proportional system with a seat bonus for any alliance that wins more than 42 percent of the vote.
The bonus is 105 seats, 70 in the lower house and 35 in the Senate, the BBC reported. Parties that plan to govern together must name a joint prime-minister candidate and a programme before the election. The next general election is due in 2027. The previous system elected about one third of members in first-past-the-post seats.
Meloni wrote on X that the rules are meant to promote stable government. She had warned she could resign and call an early election if the plan failed. Opposition parties said the change is designed to help the current right-wing coalition and called it a fraudulent reform in the chamber debate, the BBC reported.
The bill needed four parliamentary votes. Coalition arguments had focused on a clause letting voters pick preferred candidates on party lists, which reduces leaders' control over who is elected, Reuters said. Meloni's government last month became Italy's longest-running since the Second World War.
The vote completes parliamentary approval. It does not set the election date.
People Sentiments Mixed
- Giorgia Meloni said the rules are meant to promote stability and parliamentary cohesion.
- Opposition parties called the reform fraudulent and said it was designed to keep the coalition in power.