Italy’s electoral rules may change before polls: Why Meloni’s proposal has triggered row

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is pushing ahead with a sweeping overhaul of the country’s electoral system, a move that opposition parties have condemned as an “authoritarian” attempt to tilt next year’s general election in her favour, the Financial Times reported.The proposed legislation, due for parliamentary debate on Friday, would introduce a proportional representation system with a “majority prize” that grants additional parliamentary seats to the coalition winning the most votes, enabling it to form a stable government even without securing an outright majority.To qualify for the bonus of up to 17.5% of parliamentary seats, parties would have to contest the election on a common platform and agree on a prime ministerial candidate. The winning coalition would also need to secure at least 42% of the vote. If no coalition reaches that threshold, the additional seats would be distributed proportionally.Defending the proposal, Meloni said the changes were aimed at ensuring political stability after years of unstable governments.“Today we are seen as an anchor of stability in Europe; yesterday we were an unstable Italy in a more stable Europe,” Meloni said at a public forum on Tuesday. “I certainly don’t want Italy to go back to being unstable.”She argued that the proposed system would strengthen governance while respecting proportional representation.“It’s a proportional law, whoever gets the most votes governs. But it does give whoever gets the most votes the power to have a majority to govern for five years. This should be something we can all agree on, especially the left.”According to the Financial Times, political scientist Lorenzo Castellani of Rome’s Luiss University said the reform reflected uncertainty within Meloni’s camp ahead of elections that could be held as early as April next year.“Changing an electoral law is always a sign of weakness,” Castellani said. “If you have to change the rules for winning, it means you don’t feel very secure to potentially win an election.”Opposition leaders have vowed to block the legislation. Democratic Party leader Elly Schlein said, “We will not allow the electoral law to pass,” adding that parts of the proposal were “clearly unconstitutional”.Marco Meloni of the Democratic Party described the proposal as “an authoritarian plan that concentrates power in the hands of a single person”.Riccardo Magi of the opposition Più Europa party criticised the plan as “an incoherent mix of different systems” designed to secure a parliamentary majority for the ruling coalition.“The Italian political system is once again falling prey to this anti-democratic curse, dictated by the main parties’ habit of tailoring electoral law to their needs,” Magi said.The proposal is modelled on the controversial 2005 electoral law introduced under former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, which also included a majority bonus before being struck down by Italy’s Constitutional Court in 2013.The draft legislation would also require smaller parties to collect 500,000 signatures to contest elections, a provision widely viewed as targeting former general Roberto Vannacci’s hard-right movement, Futuro Nazionale, the Financial Times reported.