Referendum, what will be the effects on Parliament and the government?

5 ‘reading

For the third time in fourteen years, Italians are asked if they agree to reduce the number of their representatives in Parliament. But unlike what happened in 2006 (center-right reform) and in 2016 (Boschi-Renzi reform) when the issue was included in a general review of the institutional structure (in both cases rejected by voters), ” Día de elections’ of September 20 and 21 – there will also be voting in seven regions and 1,184 municipalities – the question of the referendum will be limited and arithmetic: it wants to reduce by 36.5% the deputies, from 630 to 400, and the senators, from 315 to 200)? The structure of the current Parliament and the Government will depend on the response of the voters (on the eve of the outcome it appears obvious with a predominance of yes), summoned for the first time to the polls after the postponement due to the Covid-19 emergency.

The approval of the reform and the postponement of the referendum

The text of the constitutional reform was approved in a second vote in the Senate on July 11, 2019 and in the Chamber on October 8, 2019. The majority of two-thirds of the components was reached only in Montecitorio and not in both powers of the Parliament: circumstance which would have excluded the possibility of holding a referendum on the text. On the other hand, 71 senators (more than a fifth of the members of a Chamber) requested them within the three months following the publication of the law.

The referendum was initially set for March 29, but the emergency caused by the coronavirus has postponed the vote to September 20 and 21.

Deployments

Between the last approval of the Senate and that of the Chamber, the change of government took place: from the first executive led by Giuseppe Conte and supported by M55 and Lega to the second still entrusted to the private law professor of Apulia but with the Pd in ​​place of the party. of Matteo salvini.

A passage that has had an impact on the composition of the sides for Yes and No that do not coincide with the majority and the opposition. The reduction in the number of parliamentarians is a historic battle of the 5 Star Movement, which in the last days of the electoral campaign has deployed all its prominent exponents, starting with the former political leader and chancellor. Luigi di maio, to give the green light to reform will prevail. A result that would serve the Cinquestelle to compensate, at least in part, for the negative results of its regional candidates and that would relaunch the “anti-cast battle”: after the intervention on life annuities and on the “audience” of those elected, the next step – already announced – would be to reduce the salaries of parliamentarians.