Italian electoral reform

Italy is set to install a fully proportional voting system ahead of upcoming elections in 2027, as a result of a new law passed on 8 October 2026 by secret ballot. Critics have viciously attacked this attempt at electoral reform, suggesting that Meloni is manipulating the system to ensure that her coalition government, which also happens to be the longest-serving government since Mussolini, can remain in power. But is this critique truly fair, and what are the implications of it for the future of Italy? 

Prior to reforms, Italy relied upon a mixed electoral system to elect members to its upper and lower chambers, combining both first past the post and proportional representation in a method known as “Rosatellum”. Under this arrangement, 147 seats were decided based on constituent votes, and the other 245 were elected through proportional representation in the “Camera dei Deputati”, with corresponding allocations being for the “Senato della Repubblica”.

The issue with this mixed system is that Italian parties are forced to form coalitions, for no party would realistically be able to win a majority outright, meaning that the chambers are split into blocs, with the current governing body led by Meloni and her right-wing party, Fratelli d'Italia. Thus, parties, aware that to influence governance they would need to be part of the leading coalition, commonly choose to co-ordinate candidates in elections with their potential coalition partners, to ensure that seats are tactically won by the bloc in question to receive enough to form a parliamentary majority, even if they fail to win the majority of votes nationally. As seen in 2022, this has proven particularly useful for Meloni’s right-wing coalition and may just be part of the reason she would be able to consolidate power for so long. 

So, what do the reforms actually mean for the Italian electoral system? Well, under the new law passed, any party or coalition that has more than 42% of the vote share will be given 105 extra seats in parliament, split into 70 in the lower house and 35 in the upper chamber, to ensure that the government has a more comfortable majority to pass whatever their desired legislation. Of course, considering Meloni’s success and popularity in Italy, this is likely to deliver her another term as Italian Prime Minister; thus, Italian leftist blocs have deemed this to be a power grab.

Meloni has been in power for just four years, which makes the fact that her government is the longest-serving since the Second World War perhaps more poignant.

In 80 years, there have been 68 Italian governments, in comparison to just 20 British governments in the same time period. As a result of that, Italy has struggled to maintain political stability, prompting a tradition of constant, often unsuccessful electoral reform. It is hard to deny that the longevity of Meloni’s government has not been largely successful for the nation, considering that she has managed to fiscally rejuvenate the country without having to resort to austerity, as many right-wing governments often fall victim to. 

It is also interesting to note that unemployment, which has long plagued the psyche of the Italian public, has drastically fallen under Meloni, something which her predecessors failed to achieve with their short stints in government. Such a clear and positive outcome for the Italian people suggests that, although electoral reform may be a ploy by the “coalizione di centro-destra” to ensure another more powerful term in control of the country, it is a necessary move to rejuvenate Italy after decades of decline. 

If a government does not have time to implement policies to transform the nation, then a country will never improve. Therefore, the left complaining about Meloni’s reforms really says more about them than it does about Meloni. It implies that the left does not truly care about Italy, but about their own political ambitions. The success of the right blocs in Italy should transcend ideological conviction and should be celebrated by all Italians. Italy is back on the path to prosperity, led by Europe’s most competent and impressive leaders, and if these electoral changes are to aid Meloni in her mission to restore Italy to its former glory, then any critique of them is in bad faith. As Meloni famously claimed, “Rome should be seen as the capital of Europe, and the rest of the continent should follow her example, if Europe ever wants to recover from decades of decline.”

By Isabella Link

Image: Wikimedia Commons