Italian president sets December deadline for election reform

Italian president sets December deadline for election reform (ANSA) – Rome, October 25 – President Giorgio Napolitano on Friday set parliament a December deadline to change Italy’s widely criticised election law.

He said parliament should intervene before the Constitutional Court, which is set to hold its first hearing on whether the current system respects the Constitution on December 3.

Italy’s current election law – passed under a previous government of Silvio Berlusconi and often referred to as Porcellum, or ‘pigsty’ – has been widely blamed for leading to inconclusive February election results, two months of political deadlock, and now the unprecedented left-right government which is seen as highly volatile.

The Constitutional Court is to review part of the law that creates a system by which bonus seats are granted in both the House and Senate.

Critics say the election law also distances politicians from voters, who effectively cannot pick their representatives, as party leaders have the power to name candidates on so-called ‘blocked lists’, which are then voted on.

The need for change is widely accepted but the parties have been unable to agree on how to move forward. “Before the Constitutional Court hearing, parliament should affirm its role with its own intervention, at least to modify the law in force,” Napolitano said in a statement in the latest of a series of calls for action.

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