Italy’s political parties are moving closer to a deal for autumn elections

Italy's political parties were on Tuesday edging towards a deal that would pave the way for elections in the autumn under a new proportional system, sending ripples through financial markets.

Published: 30 May 2017 14:08 CEST

Italy's political parties are moving closer to a deal for autumn elections

Italy's Chamber of Deputies, the Lower House of Parliament. Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP

The current parliament's mandate does not run out until early 2018, but early elections have been mooted constantly since Matteo Renzi quit as prime minister in December following an embarrassing defeat in a referendum over constitutional reforms.

President Sergio Mattarella has demanded a clear electoral plan before dissolving parliament, and the negotiations have dragged on for months.

But Renzi's ruling centre-left Democratic Party (PD) appears to have come to an agreement with the populist Five Star Movement, Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia and the anti-euro, anti-immigrant Northern League to use a German-style proportional system for the vote.

Half of the seats would be elected under a first-past-the-post system, with the other half distributed among all parties winning more than five percent to ensure their seats reflect their share of the vote.

Italy's electoral system has been in constant flux for two decades but has gradually moved away from proportional representation.

Opinion polls suggest no stable majority is likely to emerge, a prospect that has worried financial markets, with the Milan stock exchange losing two percent on Monday.

Graph of opinion polling in the lead up to the next Italian election. The Democratic Party is represented in red, the Five Star Movement in yellow, Forza Italia in light blue, and the Northern League in green. Graph: Impru20/Wikimedia Commons

Five Star activists backed the plan in an online vote at the weekend, while reports said Renzi and Berlusconi were gearing up to present a bill outlining the changes as early as next week.

Northern League chief Matteo Salvini, who considers the current government to be illegitimate due to the PD's triple leadership change since the last elections, backs a vote as soon as possible and has said he will accept any electoral system.

Reports said Renzi was seeking elections on September 24th – the same day as Germany's parliamentary elections – but a date in October is thought to be more feasible.

The PD and Five Star Movement are running neck and neck in the polls with around 30 percent and either could be forced into governing alliances that they have previously rejected – the PD with Forza Italy, and M5S with the Northern League.

READ ALSO: Italy's political system: The key things to know
Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

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The strike comes after Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama — who is close to Meloni — called a top RAI editor to complain about a television report into Italy’s controversial migration deal with his country.

The Usigrai trade union called the strike from May 6 to May 7 saying talks with management had failed to address their concerns.

It cited numerous issues, including staff shortages and contract issues, but in first place was “the suffocating control over journalistic work, with the attempt to reduce RAI to a megaphone for the government”.

It had already used that phrase to object to what critics say is the increasing influence over RAI by figures close to Prime Minister Meloni, who leads Italy’s most right-wing government since World War II.

However, another union of RAI journalists, Unirai, said they would not join what they called a “political” strike, defending the return to “pluralism” at the broadcaster.

Funded in part by a licence fee and with top managers long chosen by politicians, RAI’s independence has always been an issue of debate.

But the arrival in power of Meloni — leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, who formed a coalition with Matteo Salvini’s far-right League party and the late Silvio Berlusconi’s right-wing Forza Italia — redoubled concerns.

Tensions erupted at the weekend amid accusations RAI censored a speech by a leading writer criticising Meloni ahead of Liberation Day on April 25, when Italians mark the defeat of Fascism and the Nazis at the end of World War II.

Both RAI’s management and Meloni have denied censorship, and the premier posted the text of the monologue on her social media.

In another twist, Albania’s premier confirmed Thursday he called senior RAI editor Paolo Corsini about an TV report on Sunday into Italy’s plans to build two migration processing centres on Albanian territory.

Rama told La Stampa newspaper the report was “biased” and contained “lies” – adding that he had not raised the issue with Meloni.

The Report programme claimed the costs of migrant centres, which are under construction, were already “out of control” and raised questions about criminals benefiting from the project.