Meloni Government Suffers First Parliamentary Defeat Over Electoral Reform
Italy’s center-right government was defeated in the lower house by a single vote after at least 30 ruling party deputies sided with the opposition in the secret ballot.
Italy’s center-right government was defeated in the lower house by a single vote after at least 30 ruling party deputies sided with the opposition in the secret ballot.
The Italian center-right coalition, in power since October 2022, has suffered its first defeat in parliament after the lower house rejected a government proposal to amend the electoral system. In the Chamber of Deputies 188 MPs voted against and 187 for the motion aiming to reintroduce preferential voting in elections. Under the preferential system proposed by Meloni’s FdI and two other minor right-wing parties, voters would not merely cast a ballot for a single candidate or party, but could rank them in order of preference, with the exception of the party list leaders, who would continue to be chosen by the parties themselves.
The opposition managed to push through the proposal of holding a secret ballot on the amendment, something that the Italian PM had harshly opposed.
After the vote, Giorgia Meloni said on social media
We tried. Once again, the swamp won.
5
She also remarked on the fact that some MPs of the ruling coalition voted against the amendment, saying this needs “reflection.”
Meloni also took a jab at the opposition, saying they celebrated the defeat of the bill as if they “had won the World Cup, while preventing citizens from choosing their own representatives, which says it all.”
Vice Prime Minister Antonio Tajani, leader of the governing Forza Italia (FI) party, called the lower house result an accident. He added that while it should not have happened, “it was not a vote of confidence in the government, we continue to work.”
In contrast, opposition parties immediately called for early elections. Former prime minister Giuseppe Conte, leader of the opposition Five Star Movement (M5S), stated that a government crisis is apparent, arguing that Meloni’s own majority withdrew its confidence, meaning she must step down. Elly Schlein, secretary-general of the left-wing Democratic Party (PD), shared a similar view, declaring that the time has come for the Meloni government to acknowledge its failure. Schlein reiterated that the “center-left” voted no because the motion put forward by the government of the first female prime minister aimed to abolish gender equality quotas guaranteed on electoral lists.
