rome: Italy’s parliament on Wednesday began its final deliberations on Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s plans for a new electoral law that could help her right-wing coalition secure another majority. The bill would ensure that the winner of a parliamentary election receives a form of majority bonus, with the stated aim of producing more stable governments in Rome.
A decisive vote in the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, is expected within the next few days after the Senate - Italy’s upper house of parliament - approved the proposal in mid-September.
Meloni has announced she will link the vote to a confidence motion. If she loses that, snap elections would be imminent. The country is due to hold parliamentary elections next year, though no exact date has been set.
Italy’s post-war history has been marked by serious political instability, with almost 70 governments having taken office in Rome. Having been in power for nearly four years, Meloni’s three-party coalition has already broken the record for the longest-serving government. The country’s electoral law has been changed several times in recent decades, unlike in many other European democracies. (DPA)
