SHARE
COPY LINK

POLITICS

Italy to hold hearing on electoral law in January

Italy will hold a hearing on its electoral law in late January, the Constitutional Court announced on Tuesday.

Italy to hold hearing on electoral law in January
The Quirinale presidential palace. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

The January 24th hearing, to debate the legitimacy of Italy's current electoral law (Italicum), will likely be an important factor in when general elections will be held following PM Matteo Renzi's resounding referendum defeat.

It's not clear when there will be a definitive ruling on Italicum, but this is the latest sign that elections could happen sooner than expected. Hearings had initially been scheduled for September this year, then October, but were postponed to avoid interference with the referendum.

The electoral law is the big obstacle to holding elections; it is designed to apply only to the lower house of parliament, because the Senate was set to be redesigned under Renzi's proposed constitutional reforms.

Now that those reforms have failed, president Sergio Mattarella is highly unlike to call elections until the electoral law has been updated.

Italy's two largest opposition parties, the Five Star Movement and Northern League, are also both pushing for early elections.

The Five Star Movement had initially called for immediate elections – despite having campaigned vigorously against the electoral law over recent months. On Tuesday, one of its leading MPs, Luigi Di Maio, said the party wanted new elections under a “corrected” version of Italicum, updated to apply to the Senate as well.

“All you need is a five-line correction,” he said.

And there are signs that the Democratic Party is gearing up for an election in the near future, despite the overwhelming support for the No camp in the referendum, which has been widely interpreted as a protest vote against Renzi's administration.

Earlier on Tuesday, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said he expected general elections to take place in February, speaking to Italian daily Il Corriere following a meeting with Renzi.

Renzi is set to tender his resignation as soon as possible; he agreed to Mattarella's request that he stay on until the 2017 budget was passed, “out of a sense of responsibility”, and has scheduled a debate on the budget for Wednesday.

The budget has already won a vote of confidence in Italy's lower house of parliament, and now just needs Senate approval. 

Once that has been achieved, Mattarella will be free to name a new Prime Minister, with Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan one of the front-runners for the position.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

TERRORISM

Italy on maximum terror alert over Easter after Moscow attack

Italy was to increase surveillance in busy areas ahead of the Easter holidays and following the bombing of a Moscow concert hall, ministers agreed on Monday.

Italy on maximum terror alert over Easter after Moscow attack

Italy’s national committee for public security, chaired by Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, on Monday said anti-terrorism monitoring in Italy must be strengthened ahead of the Easter holidays, with more surveillance to be carried out at popular tourist spots and at “sensitive sites”.

The committee agreed on “the importance of continuing monitoring activity, including online, by police and intelligence forces for the identification of possible risk situations” in Italy, reported news agency Ansa.

The security meeting was convened following the terrorist attack in Moscow on Friday where armed men opened fire and set the building ablaze, killing at least 133 people.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani had stressed to the public on Sunday that Italy faced “no concrete risk” and said the country’s security and law enforcement services were “always on the alert to prevent any attack.”

“During the Easter holidays you will need to be very careful. We will always do the utmost to ensure the safety of citizens and tourists,” Tajani said, speaking on national broadcaster Rai’s current affairs show Restart.

READ ALSO: Terror alerts: Should I be worried about travelling to Italy?

The fight against terrorism “has nothing to do with the war in Ukraine,” the minister continued.

“We support Ukraine” as an invaded country in which international law has been violated, he said, “but as the Italian government we have expressed our condemnation of the attack [in Moscow] and closeness to the families of the victims and the survivors”.

Cabinet Secretary Alfredo Mantovano said on the same programme that the main terrorist threat Italy faced at the moment was mainly from “lone wolves” and “not so much from organised groups.”

“I believe that a group like the one that acted in the Moscow attack, which must have been trained and had logistical support, would be intercepted sooner in Italy,” he said.

“The most worrying threat” in Italy was online recruitment, he said, noting that propaganda was closely monitored.

SHOW COMMENTS