Electoral reform may not reshape Italy’s party system
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
Subject
Italy’s electoral law reform.
Significance
Efforts to find cross-party agreement on even limited electoral reform foundered in June when the governing Democratic Party (PD) and the Five Star Movement (M5S) abandoned efforts to push through rapid change ahead of an early general election. Long-held hopes of finding a formula which would give one party a clear mandate therefore seem to have died.
Impacts
- Without far more radical reform than is now likely, the next parliament will be elected by a very pure form of proportional representation.
- Weak economic performance and a large public debt burden will continue to tie government hands.
- Resentment at EU budgetary restrictions and insufficient EU assistance to deal with migrant flows will fuel Eurosceptic populism.
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