On Sunday 20 and Monday 21 September the Italians are called to the polls for one constitutional referendum on reduction of the number of deputies from 630 to 400 and that of senators from 315 to 200. This is a confirmatory referendum, for which no quorum is foreseen: the result will be valid regardless of the number of votes cast. The reform that provides for the cut of parliamentarians was voted by Parliament according to the process of double reading and voting of the text: the first go-ahead arrived on 7 February 2019, in the Senate, when the majority was the yellow-green one formed by 5 stars e League. Lined up for the s, in the first votes in the House and Senate, are M5S, Lega, Forza Italia (with some distinction) and Fratelli d’Italia. The Democratic Party votes against.
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The final way
In second resolution at Palazzo Madama, on 11 July 2019, the law was approved by an absolute majority without reaching a qualified majority of two thirds, due to the vote against expressed by the senators of the Democratic Party and Liberi e equal, then opposition of the Conte I government, and of the non-participation in the Forza Italia vote. In the last reading in the Chamber of Deputies, on 8 October 2019, however, arrives the go-ahead of all parliamentary groups majority and opposition, with the exception of some members of the Mixed group, with the text reaching a qualified majority of two thirds of the members. In the fourth vote, the one that marked the definitive approval of the reform, the Pd, Leu and Italia viva also voted s.
Some parties have changed their positions: here are the current ones.
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Pd
The location of the Democratic party on how to vote in the referendum was made official in the national leadership on 7 September: as indicated by Nicola Zingaretti in them line up for the S. The proposal was approved in the management with 188 votes in favor, 18 against, 8 abstentions, while 11 did not participate in the vote. A large majority, but which does not translate into absolute compactness. Some members of the party have announced their intention to vote No, such as the former speaker of the Chamber Laura Boldrini, the former treasurer Luigi Zanda, Gianni Cuperlo and Matteo Orfini. Some big names like Romando Prodi are also against, Arturo Parisi, Giuseppe Fioroni and Rosy Bindi.
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M5S
The 5 Star Movement has always been the staunchest supporter of the S, considering the cut of parliamentarians as the mother of all anti-caste reforms. Second Luigi Di Maio: With fewer parliamentarians, the quality of the laws will rise. The founder of the Movement also echoed him, Beppe Grillo: The Italian people will be able to regain their power by driving back the dinosaurs of the Jurassic period, destined for extinction by the comet of constitutional reform. Even if the position of the grillini is granite, there is no shortage of defections among the parliamentarians: the deputies Elisa Siragusa, Mara Lapia, Andrea Vallascas and Andrea Colletti lined up for the No.
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League
Matteo Salvini has officially deployed the League for the S: We have voted four times in the House for the cut of parliamentarians and we do not change our minds now. It was and remains an initiative aimed at making the work of the Chambers more streamlined and effective. But even within the Carroccio someone slipped from the party line, announcing the No, like the governor of Lombardy Attilio Fontana, the deputy secretary of the League Giancarlo Giorgetti, the former minister Gian Marco Centinaio, the economist Claudio Borghi and the former undersecretary Armando Siri.
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Brothers of Italy
It does not escape me that a possible success of the No could put the majority in difficulty – he said Giorgia Meloni leader of FdI– but I don’t trade a thing I believe in for a moment’s profit. Hence the clear position for the S of the party, which appears to be the most compact within the center-right coalition.
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Come on Italy
Silvio Berlusconi was critical of the reform within the center-right, explaining: Done like this, as the grillini want it, the cut of the parliamentarians risks being just a demagogic act that limits representation, reduces freedom and our democracy. The voters were left there freedom to vote. In Parliament, the group leader in the Chamber appears for the S Mariastella Gelmini, for the No the parent company in the Senate Anna Maria Bernini.
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Italy alive
Warm welcome on the reform by Italia viva. Matteo Renzi he would have liked to link the cut of the parliamentarians to the passing of a new electoral law, which for not happened. According to the leader of IV, the reform is a commercial, a tribute to demagogy. Whether yes or no wins, nothing changes for the legislative procedure. If you want to make institutional reforms seriously, you have to do things right. Freedom of vote therefore to the members of the party.
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+ Europe and Action
Clearly lined up for the No be + Europe is Action. Second Emma Bonino – which also took part in various demonstrations in the streets against the cut – with a victory of the S the Constitution would remain mutilated. I am intellectually horrified to hear of parliament as a den of the underworld occupied by parasites, which must be eliminated as if they were lice. Of the same opinion too Carlo Calenda: Not an overall reform of the parliamentary institution, which needs it – I am even in favor of dry single-chamberism – but an indiscriminate cut that takes representation from a Chamber and complicates parliamentary work.
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September 16, 2020 (change September 16, 2020 | 18:15)
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