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The Cinque Stelle protest party drummed against the “political caste.” Now he has achieved a great victory in a constitutional referendum. The right wing is behind its own expectations in the regional elections.
The Italians reduced the size of the national parliament.
In a constitutional referendum, the Italians decided to reduce the size of the two houses of parliament. Preliminary results show an agreement in the region of 70 percent. With the upcoming elections, the Chamber of Deputies will be reduced from 630 to 400 seats, the Senate from 315 to 200, plus 5 (currently 6) senators for life appointed by the president. The reduction of the two cameras is a success for Cinque Stelle. They wanted to punish the “political caste” in a populist way and “send home” at least some of them. The protest party has now succeeded.
The idea of downsizing has always been very popular with the population, as opinion polls have shown. Not only due to the pressure of public opinion, the Chamber of Deputies decided his self-circumcision almost unanimously, with the support of the parties of the left and right. However, there was no two-thirds majority in the Senate, so the referendum has now been held.
More recently, opportunistic and irrelevant considerations played an important role in public discussion. The ruling parties supported the reduction, the fierce Cinque Stelle, while there were many skeptics among the Social Democrats of the Partito Democratico. For their part, right-wing opposition leaders feared that a yes would strengthen the Cinque Stelle and thus the government in public opinion. They could hardly turn their opinion into the opposite and took refuge in the formula of leaving the decision to the voters.
Partial success of the right wing in regional elections
Meanwhile, the Italian right did not achieve the march announced in the regional elections in 7 of the 20 regions. Right-wing populist Matteo Salvini had promised a “7 against 0”, but in the end the victory is quite modest. Only in the Marche region around Ancona is there a shift of power from left to right. The right was able to defend its positions in two regions and the left in three. The small region of Valle d’Aosta, on the other hand, a special case with a special status, tends more to the right.
Salvini failed in particular with his attack on Tuscany, his candidate fell by the wayside. The region is considered a bastion of the left and remains true to this tradition. His ally and rival Giorgia Meloni, on the other hand, was unable to enforce his candidate in Apulia. After all, it is a comfort to the right that its regional presidents in Veneto and Liguria are firmly in the chair. Luca Zaia and Giovanni Toti are independent characters with strong domestic power and national charisma. The same is true in Campania for the colorful regional president and former communist Vincenzo De Luca.
In Tuscany and Apulia, the left only escaped defeat with great difficulty. The right kept its ranks closed, the three parties Lega, Fratelli d’Italia and Forza Italia entered the contest with common candidates for the position of regional president. The ruling parties in Rome, on the other hand, the Partito Democratico and the Cinque Stelle, could not agree on regional alliances; However, some Cinque Stelle supporters probably supported not their own candidates but the Social Democrats to prevent the right wing from succeeding. Voters did realpolitik where politicians couldn’t.
From left to right: continuous change of power in Italy
