look news india
A very big news of this time is coming out from the corridors of power in European politics and Italy. Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has suffered a huge and crushing blow in the Parliament on her very important agenda of amending the electoral law. The lower house of the Italian Parliament (Chamber of Deputies) rejected by a margin of just 1 vote an important proposal related to changes in the voting rules brought by PM Meloni’s party ‘Brothers of Italy’. There were 187 votes in favor of this proposal and 188 votes against it, due to which the Meloni government has to face huge embarrassment within the Parliament.
What was the proposal and how did Meloni’s strategy fail?
This entire controversial proposal was related to the re-implementation of ‘Preference-Based Voting System’ for candidates in the electoral system of the country. The Meloni government was confident that it would pass the amendment easily, as its coalition partners—the League and Forza Italia—had assured it of full support in Parliament.
But, during the voting the whole game changed when in the Parliament secret ballot (Secret Ballot) was conducted. Due to secret voting, some MPs of the alliance went against their own party line (cross voting) and voted against the proposal, due to which the proposal was defeated by just one vote.
Why are electoral rules being changed in Italy?
A major electoral reform bill is currently being discussed in detail in the Italian Parliament. This new bill includes a provision to implement full proportional representation within the country and to give some ‘extra seats’ as a bonus to the coalition that wins the elections to form the government. The Meloni government wanted to prepare the framework for a permanent government in the country through this law, but this initial setback has made the path of the government difficult.
Opposition’s sharp attack: ‘PM has lost control over majority’
Immediately after this result, Italy’s opposition parties launched an all-out attack on the Meloni government. The opposition has called it a huge and historic political setback for Prime Minister Georgia Meloni. Opposition leaders directly accused the government, saying that the Meloni government is politically scared just ahead of the general elections next year, and wants to forcibly change the electoral rules for its personal benefit. The opposition claimed that the defeat of this one vote proved to the whole world that Prime Minister Meloni had now completely lost control over his own parliamentary majority and MPs.