Comparative European Politics
1993-2005
¾ Single Member
Districts; ¼ proportional representation
Approved on December 14, 2005
New Party-list system
with a series of thresholds
to encourage parties to form coalitions.
Chamber of Deputies
26 constituencies:
3 each for Lombardy,
Piedmont, Veneto, Latium, Campania, and 2 each for Sicily each have two, and
all other regions have one.
617 MPs
1 for Valle dÕAosta
12 for Italians living abroad
630 Total
Thresholds for the allocation
of the remainder of the seats based on percentage of vote garnered on a
national basis:
* Minimum 10% for a coalition
* Minimum 4% for any party not in a coalition
* Minimum
2% for any party in a coalition
***The winning coalition
receives at least 55% of the seats on national level in the House
Remaining seats are
proportionally divided among the minority parties
Senate of the Republic
20 constituencies, one for
each region of Italy
6 senators allocated for
Italians living abroad
Thresholds different, applied
on a regional basis:
* Minimum 20% for a coalition.
* Minimum 8% for any party not in a coalition.
* Minimum 3% for any party in a coalition (there
is no exception for the first party in a coalition below this threshold, unlike
the lower house).
The coalition that wins a
plurality in a region is automatically given 55% of the region's seats, if it
has not reached that percentage already
"Partitocracy"
parties very powerful
decide order on party lists
who ultimately takes seats
2006 Elections
Won by Romano Prodi
Center-left coalition: The Union
His former Olive Tree
Coalition
Former Communists
Narrow majority
2008
Lost vote vote of confidence
in Senate; President calls for new elections
BerlusconiÕs House of
Freedom wins
Defeated center-left The
Veltroni Union (the Union now headed by former mayor of Rome, Walter Veltroni)
A liberal-conservative,
nationalist coalition
Includes:
Forza Italia, post-DC parties
The Northern League
The National Alliance
(Fascist successor party)
Survives confidence vote,
September 2010
But loses support of Gianfranco Fini,
Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Leader of the National Alliance
Continued scandals
Underage girls, young women
Sex parties
Homophobic comment Òbetter to like
beautiful girls than a gayÓ