vote, italians, vote!
TRANSCRIPT
VOTE, ITALIANS, VOTE!
February 2017
ELECTORAL LAWS AND SYSTEMS: THE VOTING SYSTEM IN ITALY
Majoritarian, proportional and mixed; electoral colleges, electoral thresholds, majority bonuses... how often have we asked ourselves: “How are our representatives elected and what has changed?”.One thing has remained unaltered: different criteria are used to elect MPs and Senators.Let’s try to clarify the basic elements of the electoral laws since Italy became a Republic and why they have led to the recent ruling of the Constitutional Court regarding the Italicum.
The Senate of the Republic is elected on a regional basis, with the exception of the seats assigned to the overseas constituency. […] The division of seats among the Regions […] is made in proportion to the population of the Regions.
LET’S START WITH THE CONSTITUTION
Any citizen, man or woman, who has attained majority, is eligible to vote. The vote is personal and equal, free and secret. The exercise thereof is a civic duty. The law lays down the requirements and modalities for citizens to exercise their right to vote […].
Chamber of Deputies (Law n. 1058/1947)a single national electoral college, divided into plurinominal constituencies;multiple lists, with the option to indicate 3 or 4 preferences according to the size of the constituencies;one MP elected every 80,000 inhabitants or fraction greater than 40,000.
Senate of the Republic (Law n. 29/1948)uninominal electoral colleges equal to the number of Senators required to be elected in the Region;to be elected Senator a candidate has to obtain at least 65% of votes in his own college. If no-one obtains 65% of votes (a normal occurrence) the proportional system is applied, but always on a regional basis.
1948-1993: A PURE PROPORTIONAL SYSTEM
Who won the first elections In 1948 the Christian Democrats (CD) won 48.5% of the vote for the Chamber of Deputies (305 seats) and 48.1% for the Senate (131 seats).
WHO WON IN 1948?
AN UNSUCCESSFUL SURPRISE ATTACK BY THE CD PARTY
1953: the so-called Fraud law (Chamber of Deputies)Law n. 158/53, proposed by the Minister of the Interior, Mr. Scelba (CD), assigned a majority bonus to the list or joint lists that won 50,01% of the vote. There was a heated parliamentary debate: the Assembly of the Chamber of Deputies lasted 3 days and 3 nights. When it came to vote the socialists and communists left the Chamber.
However the CD party did not reap the fruits of its labours: at the elections in 1953 its coalition won 49.2% - so goodbye majority bonus!The Fraud law was repealed in 1954, and the system established in 1948 was reinstated.
1994-2005: the so-called Mattarellum
Chamber of Deputies (Law n. 277/1993)75%, i.e., 475 MPs elected with the single round majority system, in the same number of uninominal electoral colleges (475). The remaining 25%, i.e., 155 MPs, are elected with the fixed party lists proportional system and they are divided into 26 electoral constituencies. Only those who run in the lists that won 4% of the national vote can be elected (threshold clause);2 votes for two different ballot papers: one for those elected with the majority system and the other for those elected with the proportional system. Candidacies were presented in the colleges for the majority system and in the constituencies for the proportional system.
INTRODUCTION OF THE (INCOMPLETE) MAJORITY SYSTEM
Senate of the Republic (Law n. 276/1993)75%, i.e., 236 Senators, elected with the single round majority system using uninominal colleges. The remaining 25%, i.e., 79 Senators, elected with the proportional system: each Region was considered as a single constituency.
Who won the first electionsIn 1994 the centre-right coalition called Polo della Libertà, headed by Silvio Berlusconi, won 42,84% of the vote (366 seats in the Chamber and 156 in the Senate), while the coalition of the Progressisti, headed by Achille Occhetto, won 34,34% (213 seats in the Chamber and 122 in the Senate).
MATTARELLUM AT THE SENATE
At least one Senator and one MP are elected in each constituency; the other seats (two for the Senate and 8 for the Chamber) are distributed between the constituencies in proportion to the number of resident Italian citizens.
The 2000/2001 revision of the Consti-tution allowed Italians living abroad to elect 12 MPs and 6 Senators using a proportional electoral system and with-out fixed party lists: voters can express two preferences, as follows:1. Europe (including the Russian Federation and Turkey): 6 MPs/2 Senators; 2. South America: 3 MPs/2 Senators;3. North and Central America: 2 MPs/1 Senator;4. Africa, Asia, Oceania and Antarctica: 1 MP/1 Senator.
THE OVERSEAS CONSTITUENCY
2005: PROPORTIONAL WITH A MAJORITY BONUS (THE SO-CALLED PORCELLUM)
Chamber of Deputies (Law n. 270/2005)617 MPs elected as a proportion of the votes won by the lists competing in the 26 constituencies. 1 MP is elected with a majority system in the electoral college in Valle d’Aosta, 12 MPs are elected in the overseas constituencies;political parties can join together in a coalition with a common platform and a designated leader;the coalitions elected to the Chamber of Deputies must have obtained at least 10% of valid votes and each of the parties in the coalition must have obtained 2% of the vote; lists that are not in a coalition can obtain seats so long as they have exceeded the 4% threshold;the coalition with the most votes is assigned a majority bonus so as to reach at least 340 seats (unless it has already reached that number);there is only one ballot paper and voters have to vote for one of the fixed party lists..
Senate of the Republic (Law n. 270/2005)the system is similar to the one used to elect MPs; however one big difference is that the Senate is elected based on regional constituencies, as per the Constitution;seats are assigned to lists of candidates competing in the regional constituencies, with proportional allocation and possible assignment of a majority bonus;the following are eligible to participate in the allocation of seats in each Region: coalitions that win at least 20% of valid votes, with at least one list in the coalition winning 3%; lists that are not part of a coalition but have obtained at least 8%;there is only one ballot paper and voters have to vote for one of the fixed party lists.
PORCELLUM AT THE SENATE
Who won the first elections In 2006 the centre-left coalition (the Unione, headed by Romano Prodi) won 49,81% of the vote, while the centre-right coalition (Casa della Libertà headed by Silvio Berlusconi) won 49,74%.
WHO WON IN 2006?
In January 2014 the Consti-tutional Court (Judgement n. 1/2014) declared that part of the Porcellum was constitu-tionally illegitimate.It annulled the majority bonus and introduced the possibility of expressing a preferential vote.
The ensuing proportional electoral law was named the Consultellum (from the Palazzo della Consulta where the Constitutional Courts seats); it remained in force for the election of the Chamber of Deputies until the more recent electoral law, the so-called Italicum dated 1 July 2016 came into force. The Consultellum still remains in force for the Senate elections.
2014: INTERVENTION BY THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT (THE SO-CALLED CONSULTELLUM)
2015: ITALICUM. BUT JUST FOR THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES
The Italicum was the result of the so-called Nazareno Pact (Renzi-Berlusconi); it introduced a double round majority system with a majority bonus:
it assigns a majority bonus of 340 seats (55% of seats, excluding the individuals elected in the overseas constituencies) to the list that wins 40% of the vote during the first round;if no party wins 40% of valid votes, and thus does not obtain the majority bonus of 15%, a ballot takes place between the two most voted lists: whoever wins the ballot obtains a majority bonus so as to reach a quota of 327 seats (53%);the electoral threshold is set at 3% nationwide for all parties;there are 100 plurinominal colleges and a “fixed” top-ranking candidate for each party is present in each college; the latter can be a candidate in a maximum of 10 electoral colleges;1 electoral ballot paper: each voter must express two “gender” preferences (a man and a woman, otherwise the vote is not valid); the electoral lists must respect the principle of a man-woman alternation.
The Italicum was drafted in anticipation of the revision of the Constitution (Boschi reform) in which the Senate would no longer be directly elected by voters, but indirectly by regional councils. Since the constitutional reform was not approved, due to the results of the referendum on 4 December 2016, the Consultellum still applies to the Senate.However the Court (partially) disagrees.
ITALICUM AT THE SENATE
THE RULING OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
The following is an important excerpt from the ruling of: In this context, although the Constitution does not oblige the legislator to introduce identical electoral systems for both branches of Parliament, nevertheless it requires that, in order not to compromise the correct functioning of the forms of parliamentary government, the albeit different systems adopted must not hinder the formation of homogeneous parliamentary majorities, pursuant to the results of the election.
The Constitutional Court (ruling n. 35/2017) considered that, given the results of the constitutional referendum, both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate should be elected directly and, should the Italicum remain in force, it should apply only to the Chamber. This would result in two very different electoral systems in the two branches of Parliament. It also established that:
a run-off ballot to assign a majority bonus is unconstitutional because there is no minimum threshold of votes to be admitted to the second round;regarding multiple candidacies, the fixed list candidates cannot at their discretion choose their preferential electoral colleges. To ensure that the law can be applied, and to eliminate any discretionary element, the college will be selected by drawing lots.
AND THE (PARTIAL) ILLEGITIMACY OF THE ITALICUM
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