Italian government presents proposal for electoral reform

 The 5-Star Movement (M5S), Italy's largest ruling party, presented on Thursday (9) a new project to reform the country's electoral system and empty former minister Matteo Salvini's attempt to implement a model Majority.

The text, signed by the chairman of the Constitutional Committee of the House of Representatives, Giuseppe Brescia, also seeks to adapt the system to a reduction of one third in the number of parliamentarians, approved last October.

The bill proposes that 391 of the 400 Members be chosen by the proportional method, with a barrier clause of at least 5% of the votes nationwide.

Eight other seats would be elected deputies abroad, and the latter, referring to the Aosta Valley region, which has a special status, would be defined in a majority vote. The Senate, on the other hand, would have 195 members elected with proportional system, four abroad and one in the Aosta Valley.

The project was nicknamed "Germanicum" for being inspired by the German model. The current Italian electoral system is a majority third and two-thirds proportional, which benefits the most popular party, which today is the League, salvini.

The far-right legend awaits a position by the Constitutional Court this month on a referendum request to introduce a totally majority model. With this, Salvini could obtain a parliamentary majority in the case of new elections, even without reaching 50% of the vote.

The government wanted to present a reform project before the ruling of the Constitutional Court and empty the League's request for a referendum. "We will let the Italians decide, to hold a referendum for a modern and efficient majority law," Salvini said after the bill was released.

Changes – The reform adopted by Parliament last year reduces the number of Members from 630 to 400 and that of senators from 315 to 200.

The measure also cuts the number of elected parliamentarians abroad from 18 (12 deputies and six senators) to 12 (eight deputies and four senators). It is not yet known how the new distribution of representatives of the Italian community will be in other countries.

Currently, South America has four deputies, including Italian-Brazilians Luis Roberto Lorenzato and Fausto Longo, and two senators.