Italian PM Meloni suffers heavy defeat as key electoral reform provision voted down

From Rome — Michael Braun

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suffered a heavy defeat in a vote on electoral reform on Tuesday evening. Dozens of lawmakers from the government camp voted against her plan.

Key Facts

• Vote outcome: 187 votes in favor, 188 against
• Coalition majority: 235 out of 400 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
• Secret ballot: Requested by the opposition; up to 50 government lawmakers reportedly voted with the opposition

As soon as the result was announced, loud cheers erupted from the opposition benches, accompanied by shouts of "Go home! Go home!" directed at the government bench. In contrast, horrified faces were seen among the government camp's parliamentary groups.

Background: Italy's Current Electoral System

Italy currently elects its two chambers using a mixed system:

• 63% of seats are allocated via proportional lists
• 37% of seats are decided in single-member constituencies

This system gave the Meloni coalition a comfortable majority of nearly 60% of seats in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate in the 2022 elections. However, this success was due to the right being united while the opposition was divided, allowing the Meloni bloc to win almost all single-member constituencies.

Meloni's Proposed Reform

Meloni wants a new electoral law that would:

• Abolish single-member constituencies
• Allocate all seats via proportional lists
• Introduce a majority bonus: The party or alliance winning more than 42% of the vote would receive 70 of the 400 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 35 of the 200 seats in the Senate

Since the right is narrowly ahead of the center-left camp in almost all polls, Meloni hopes to govern with a large majority in the next legislative term.

The Defeated Sub-Point: Preference Votes

Tuesday's vote concerned preference votes. At the request of Meloni's party, Brothers of Italy, voters would be allowed to rank up to three candidates on the list they choose via preference votes.

Meloni wanted this sub-point not only as an old campaign promise, but also because the new electoral law provides a mechanism where only party executives—by drawing up candidate lists—decide who enters parliament, without voter input on representation.

However, the Italian Constitutional Court has repeatedly demanded that such a right of participation must be at least partially guaranteed. Single-member constituencies have ensured this so far, but they are to be abolished without replacement.

Coalition Tensions

Meloni faces opposition from within her own coalition:

• Forza Italia and the League were not keen on the electoral reform from the start, as their relative weight in the right-wing coalition would likely decrease under a proportional system
• They are also unenthusiastic about preference votes, which make the voting process less predictable for party leaderships

Despite later denials, these coalition partners apparently inflicted the voting debacle on Meloni on Tuesday evening.

Meloni's Response

Meloni reacted by stating that once again "the swamp" had won in Italy—and she could only...