The voting system in Italy: majoritarian, proportional and mixed; electoral colleges, electoral thresholds, majority bonuses. We try to clarify the basic elements of the electoral laws since Italy became a Republic and why they have led to the recent ruling of the Constitutional Court regarding the Italicum.

1. VOTE, ITALIANS, VOTE!
February 2017

2. ELECTORAL LAWS AND SYSTEMS:
THE VOTING SYSTEM IN ITALY
Majoritarian, proportional and mixed; electoral colleges, electoral
thresholds, majority bonuses... how often have we asked ourselves:
“How are our representatives elected and what has changed?”.
One thing has remained unaltered: different criteria are used to elect
MPs and Senators.
Let’s try to clarify the basic elements of the electoral laws since Italy
became a Republic and why they have led to the recent ruling of the
Constitutional Court regarding the Italicum.

3. The Senate of the Republic is elected
on a regional basis, with the exception
of the seats assigned to the overseas
constituency.
[…] The division of seats among the
Regions […] is made in proportion to
the population of the Regions.
LET’S START WITH THE CONSTITUTION
Any citizen, man or woman,
who has attained majority, is
eligible to vote. The vote is
personal and equal, free and
secret. The exercise thereof
is a civic duty. The law lays
down the requirements and
modalities for citizens to
exercisetheirrighttovote […].

4. Chamber of Deputies (Law n. 1058/1947)
a single national electoral college, divided into plurinominal
constituencies;
multiplelists,withtheoptiontoindicate3or4preferencesaccording
to the size of the constituencies;
one MP elected every 80,000 inhabitants or fraction greater than
40,000.
Senate of the Republic (Law n. 29/1948)
uninominal electoral colleges equal to the number of Senators
required to be elected in the Region;
to be elected Senator a candidate has to obtain at least 65% of
votes in his own college. If no-one obtains 65% of votes (a normal
occurrence) the proportional system is applied, but always on a
regional basis.
1948-1993: A PURE PROPORTIONAL SYSTEM

5. Who won the first elections
In 1948 the Christian Democrats (CD) won 48.5% of the vote for the
Chamber of Deputies (305 seats) and 48.1% for the Senate (131 seats).
WHO WON IN 1948?

6. AN UNSUCCESSFUL SURPRISE ATTACK
BY THE CD PARTY
1953: the so-called Fraud law
(Chamber of Deputies)
Law n. 158/53, proposed by the
Minister of the Interior, Mr. Scelba
(CD), assigned a majority bonus to
the list or joint lists that won 50,01%
of the vote. There was a heated
parliamentary debate: the Assembly
of the Chamber of Deputies lasted 3
days and 3 nights.
When it came to vote the socialists
and communists left the Chamber.
HowevertheCDpartydidnot
reap the fruits of its labours:
at the elections in 1953 its
coalition won 49.2% - so
goodbye majority bonus!
The Fraud law was repealed
in 1954, and the system
established in 1948 was
reinstated.

7. 1994-2005: the so-called Mattarellum
Chamber of Deputies (Law n. 277/1993)
75%,i.e.,475MPselectedwiththesingleroundmajoritysystem,inthe
same number of uninominal electoral colleges (475). The remaining
25%, i.e., 155 MPs, are elected with the fixed party lists proportional
system and they are divided into 26 electoral constituencies. Only
those who run in the lists that won 4% of the national vote can be
elected (threshold clause);
2 votes for two different ballot papers: one for those elected with the
majority system and the other for those elected with the proportional
system. Candidacies were presented in the colleges for the majority
system and in the constituencies for the proportional system.
INTRODUCTION OF
THE (INCOMPLETE) MAJORITY SYSTEM

8. Senate of the Republic (Law n. 276/1993)
75%, i.e., 236 Senators, elected with the single round majority
system using uninominal colleges. The remaining 25%, i.e., 79
Senators, elected with the proportional system: each Region was
considered as a single constituency.
Who won the first elections
In 1994 the centre-right coalition called Polo della Libertà, headed by
Silvio Berlusconi, won 42,84% of the vote (366 seats in the Chamber
and 156 in the Senate), while the coalition of the Progressisti, headed
by Achille Occhetto, won 34,34% (213 seats in the Chamber and 122
in the Senate).
MATTARELLUM AT THE SENATE

9. At least one Senator and
one MP are elected in each
constituency; the other seats
(two for the Senate and 8 for
the Chamber) are distributed
between the constituencies in
proportion to the number of
resident Italian citizens.
The 2000/2001 revision of the Consti-
tution allowed Italians living abroad to
elect 12 MPs and 6 Senators using a
proportional electoral system and with-
out fixed party lists: voters can express
two preferences, as follows:
1. Europe (including the Russian
Federation and Turkey): 6 MPs/2
Senators;
2. South America: 3 MPs/2 Senators;
3. NorthandCentralAmerica:2MPs/1
Senator;
4. Africa, Asia, Oceania and
Antarctica: 1 MP/1 Senator.
THE OVERSEAS CONSTITUENCY

10. 2005: PROPORTIONAL WITH A MAJORITY BONUS
(THE SO-CALLED PORCELLUM)
Chamber of Deputies (Law n. 270/2005)
617MPselectedasaproportionofthevoteswonbythelistscompeting
in the 26 constituencies. 1 MP is elected with a majority system in the
electoral college in Valle d’Aosta, 12 MPs are elected in the overseas
constituencies;
political parties can join together in a coalition with a common
platform and a designated leader;
thecoalitionselectedtotheChamberofDeputiesmusthaveobtained
at least 10% of valid votes and each of the parties in the coalition
must have obtained 2% of the vote; lists that are not in a coalition
can obtain seats so long as they have exceeded the 4% threshold;
the coalition with the most votes is assigned a majority bonus so as to
reach at least 340 seats (unless it has already reached that number);
there is only one ballot paper and voters have to vote for one of the
fixed party lists..

11. Senate of the Republic (Law n. 270/2005)
the system is similar to the one used to elect MPs; however one
big difference is that the Senate is elected based on regional
constituencies, as per the Constitution;
seats are assigned to lists of candidates competing in the regional
constituencies, with proportional allocation and possible assignment
of a majority bonus;
the following are eligible to participate in the allocation of seats in
each Region: coalitions that win at least 20% of valid votes, with at
least one list in the coalition winning 3%; lists that are not part of a
coalition but have obtained at least 8%;
there is only one ballot paper and voters have to vote for one of
the fixed party lists.
PORCELLUM AT THE SENATE

12. Who won the first elections
In 2006 the centre-left coalition (the Unione, headed by Romano
Prodi) won 49,81% of the vote, while the centre-right coalition (Casa
della Libertà headed by Silvio Berlusconi) won 49,74%.
WHO WON IN 2006?

13. In January 2014 the Consti-
tutional Court (Judgement n.
1/2014) declared that part of
the Porcellum was constitu-
tionally illegitimate.
It annulled the majority bonus
and introduced the possibility
of expressing a preferential
vote.
The ensuing proportional electoral law
was named the Consultellum (from
the Palazzo della Consulta where
the Constitutional Courts seats); it
remained in force for the election of the
Chamber of Deputies until the more
recent electoral law, the so-called
Italicum dated 1 July 2016 came into
force. The Consultellum still remains in
force for the Senate elections.
2014: INTERVENTION BY THE CONSTITUTIONAL
COURT (THE SO-CALLED CONSULTELLUM)

14. 2015: ITALICUM.
BUT JUST FOR THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES
The Italicum was the result of the so-called Nazareno Pact (Renzi-
Berlusconi);itintroducedadoubleroundmajoritysystemwithamajority
bonus:
it assigns a majority bonus of 340 seats (55% of seats, excluding
the individuals elected in the overseas constituencies) to the list that
wins 40% of the vote during the first round;
if no party wins 40% of valid votes, and thus does not obtain the
majority bonus of 15%, a ballot takes place between the two most
voted lists: whoever wins the ballot obtains a majority bonus so as
to reach a quota of 327 seats (53%);
the electoral threshold is set at 3% nationwide for all parties;
there are 100 plurinominal colleges and a “fixed” top-ranking
candidate for each party is present in each college; the latter can be
a candidate in a maximum of 10 electoral colleges;
1 electoral ballot paper: each voter must express two “gender”
preferences (a man and a woman, otherwise the vote is not valid); the
electorallistsmustrespecttheprincipleofaman-womanalternation.

15. TheItalicumwasdraftedinanticipationoftherevisionoftheConstitution
(Boschireform)inwhichtheSenatewouldnolongerbedirectlyelected
by voters, but indirectly by regional councils. Since the constitutional
reform was not approved, due to the results of the referendum on 4
December 2016, the Consultellum still applies to the Senate.
However the Court (partially) disagrees.
ITALICUM AT THE SENATE

16. THE RULING OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
The following is an important excerpt from the ruling of:
In this context, although the Constitution does not oblige the
legislator to introduce identical electoral systems for both
branches of Parliament, nevertheless it requires that, in order
not to compromise the correct functioning of the forms of
parliamentarygovernment,thealbeitdifferentsystemsadopted
must not hinder the formation of homogeneous parliamentary
majorities, pursuant to the results of the election.

17. The Constitutional Court (ruling n. 35/2017) considered that, given the
results of the constitutional referendum, both the Chamber of Deputies
and the Senate should be elected directly and, should the Italicum
remaininforce,itshouldapplyonlytotheChamber.Thiswouldresultin
two very different electoral systems in the two branches of Parliament.
It also established that:
a run-off ballot to assign a majority bonus is unconstitutional
because there is no minimum threshold of votes to be admitted to
the second round;
regarding multiple candidacies, the fixed list candidates cannot
at their discretion choose their preferential electoral colleges. To
ensure that the law can be applied, and to eliminate any discretionary
element, the college will be selected by drawing lots.
AND THE (PARTIAL) ILLEGITIMACY OF THE ITALICUM

18. Telos Analisi & Strategie
Palazzo Doria Pamphilj
Via del Plebiscito 107
Roma 00186
T. +39 06 69940838
telos@telosaes.it
www.telosaes.it
facebook.com/Telosaes
twitter.com/Telosaes
youtube.com/telosaes
https://plus.google.com/110655654803516890208
pinterest.com/telosaes/
linkedin.com/company/telos-a&s
slideshare.net/telosaes