MNI: New Electoral System Needs If Further Italy Vote Required

--Party Officials See Need For New Electoral System To Break Impasse

By Silvia Marchetti

     ROME (MNI) - If Italy's political leaders fail to reach a deal on forming a

new government in coming weeks, a fresh election will need to be called, but

only after a new voting system has been passed into law, senior officials from

political parties have told MNI.

     The parties will be summoned to the presidential palace following Easter

for an initial round of exploratory talks with President Sergio Mattarella to

see if there are grounds to form a new cabinet. 

     The centre-right coalition, now led by Lega, is discussing a possible

alliance with the 5 Star Movement, seeing possibility of agreement on several

key issues. However, if there is no agreement, a second vote in the not to

distant future is inevitable, although it will likely require yet another change

to Italy's current voting system. 

     "If we don't exit this political stalemate and find a solution, the new

parliament must quickly discuss and approve a new electoral system that can

address the dysfunctions of the current one which has led to no stable majority,

creating such chaos," said Carlo Fidanza, a newly-elected Fratelli d'Italia

deputy and member of the centre-right coalition. 

     --NEW SYSTEM, NO WINNER

     Italy has changed its voting system three times in recent years. The March

4 election was held primarily under proportional representation methods and

failed to deliver a clear winner. 

     "We spent the whole of last year discussing an adequate voting scheme, and

look at the results. Now, again, we face the same hassle but at least on this

issue all winner parties agree on the need to change it," said Fidanza.

     Claudio Borghi, a Lega deputy, argued that a second vote would be

unavoidable if parties failed to build a wide alliance based on key program

points. However, he expressed confidence that the Lega-led centre-right would

succeed in building support in what appeared to be a mission impossible "but was

not in reality". 

     Fidanza dismissed concerns that changing the voting system could trigger a

complex parliamentary approval process and delay the exit from the current

impasse. "I believe that if both the Senate and the Lower House actively

cooperate, we could have a new electoral law within a week and go back to the

ballot boxes before summer," he said. 

     The centre-right coalition, that picked up 37% of votes, is in favour of

introducing a 'majority prize' to the winning group in order to boost

governability chances, Fidanza said, pointing out that all previous attempts at

doing so last year ahead of the vote had failed. 

     --WINNERS PRIZE

     As the largest single party, the 5 Star Movement, on the other hand, would

-- unsurprisingly -- prefer the 'majority prize' went to the winning party, not

the winning coalition. 

     According to sources close to 5SM, the current voting system is against

single parties and in favour of electoral alliances, as no party was initially

expected to perform as well as they did. 

     "But then we ended up being the first party and everyone was taken aback.

It was a like a boomerang," the 5SM source said. 

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

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