Renzi hopeful he will land election-reform consensus

As Upper House continues passage of his Senate reform bill

(ANSA) - Rome, August 5 - Center-left Premier Matteo Renzi said Tuesday he is confident he will reach an agreement on a new election law that will be acceptable to the main opposition parties. "The capacity to pass reforms is key, and I'm confident we'll find an agreement on the election law," Renzi said.

The premier last Thursday requested a mandate from his centre-left Democratic Party (PD) to renegotiate a deal that he has with ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi, the leader of the opposition centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party, for a new election system. A bill based on that deal, nicknamed the Italicum, is being examined in parliament and has cleared the Lower House. Renzi is trying to get the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) on board. He recently held two meetings with the M5S to try to find a compromise that would also be acceptable to the movement, arguing that agreement on the "rules of the game" should be as broad as possible.

The Italicum sets out to replace the dysfunctional system that contributed to the inconclusive outcome to last year's general election and was declared unconstitutional. It sets bars for small parties to force them into alliances and limit their veto power, and provides a 15% winner's bonus for a coalition that gets 37% to ensure it has a working majority in parliament. The Italicum contemplates a run-off vote for the bonus seats if no coalition reaches the 37% threshold. Under this system, voters do not have the power to state on their ballots which candidate on any given party list they want to represent them in parliament - the so-called preferences.

The premier said Thursday that he wanted to "try to raise the threshold" for bonus seats for the winning coalition in elections and "introduce voter preferences" in an attempt to win over the M5S, which has been critical of how low the threshold is. Renzi stressed that all the Italicum's "contracting parties" had to agree to any changes to the bill. He is expected to meet Berlusconi to talk about the election bill sometime this week. As well, he may address the floor of the Senate on Thursday as the government's contested bill to revamp the Upper House moves towards completing its first reading, ANSA sources said Tuesday. The government is aiming for the 40-article bill to complete its first reading in the Senate before parliament stops work for its summer recess at the weekend.

Having largely overcome a massive campaign by opponents to obstruct the bill's progress, with filibustering and the presentation of almost 8,000 amendments, the executive may be able to wrap things up with a day to spare and see a final vote staged Thursday. The package will see the Senate turned into a leaner assembly of local-government representatives with minimal law-making powers to save money and making passing legislation easier. "It's the start of an historic change," Renzi told reporters while taking a short walk outside the premier's office in Rome. In spite of dramatic walk-outs, constant interruptions, and opposition MPs wearing gags and waving stuffed animals to mock the government, the Upper House in its past four sessions has approved cutting the Senate from 315 to 100 members, lifted their parliamentary immunity, and eliminated life Senators.

Late on Tuesday, the Senate approved two more articles of Renzi's bill, one eliminating the government's power to issue multi-purpose decrees on many unrelated issues, and the other divesting the Senate of its power to grant amnesties and pardons. That power will be vested in the Lower House only.