Electoral law, the majority agreement: preferences return

After two days of negotiations, the governing majority has regrouped around an agreement on the new electoral law. In the Senate, the first amendment from the center-left was rejected, which aimed to eliminate blocked list leaders and simplify preference voting.

Instead, approval was given to an amendment from the Brothers of Italy, which introduces three preferences to be expressed with a checkmark on a pre-printed list of six names, featuring blocked list leaders and gender alternation. The agreement also includes a change to prevent the 'waste' of votes for small coalition parties, although they will have to collect thousands of signatures to run.

The president of the Five Star Movement, Giuseppe Conte, called the text "a fraudulent law that favors the establishment," while the majority claims it marks a return to preference voting, accusing the left of always having opposed it.

The debate on electoral law reform is a recurring theme in Italian politics, often tied to coalition strategies to maximize their seats. The current system, born from previous reforms, is now at the center of a new attempt at modification by the Meloni government.

The main issue concerns the preference voting mechanism, which allows voters to choose individual candidates within a list. The majority proposes a return to this system, albeit in a 'controlled' form with pre-printed lists and locked lead candidates, arguing that it gives citizens more choice. The opposition of the 'broad field' (center-left, M5S, and others) counters that these are 'fake' preferences, as they are limited and not completely free.

The stakes are set within the broader framework of a possible early election, which the government is considering, and preparations for the 2027 municipal elections in major cities. The electoral law, therefore, is not just a technical matter, but a tool that defines the rules of political competition in the coming years.