Italy's Meloni passes key test as MPs approve electoral changes

Rome: Italy's parliament on Thursday approved a reform of the country's electoral law that opposition parties say Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's hard-right government has designed to boost its chances of re-election next year.

The reform introduces a fully proportional system that guarantees a parliamentary majority to any alliance winning more than 42 percent of the vote.

Meloni, who has presided over the longest-serving government in Italy's post-war history, has argued the reform will bring more political stability.


The vote passed with 227 votes in favour and 164 against after Meloni told her governing coalition she would resign if the reform fell through.

Read more: Italy's Meloni follows pop stars like Taylor Swift in seeking to trademark her voice to combat AI deepfakes

"Stable governments and greater participation mean more continuity, more accountability and a greater ability to provide concrete answers to Italians," Meloni wrote on X after the vote.

The changes also require parties and coalitions to spell out their governing programme and name their candidate for premier ahead of elections.

Giovanni Donzelli, a senior lawmaker with Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, told AFP the electoral law "is a revolution".

"Italians will finally have real weight with their vote, as they will choose the coalition, the platform, and the candidate for prime minister," he said.

Read more: Why Giorgia Meloni's four-year milestone matters far beyond Italy

But Giuseppe Conte, former prime minister and leader of the opposition Five Stars Movement (M5S), told AFP the new law is "a mess, a convoluted scheme, devised solely to find a formula to gain an advantage in the upcoming elections."

Neither the right nor the left are expected to secure an outright parliamentary majority at the next election which has to be held by the end of next year.

Under the proposed system, an alliance winning more than 42 percent of the vote would automatically receive a parliamentary majority, gaining an additional 70 seats in the lower house and 35 in the Senate.

Reaching that threshold, however, may prove difficult for either side.

Meloni last month became the leader of the longest-running administration in Italy's postwar history, but her coalition has been losing support to former army general Roberto Vannacci and his new National Future (FN) party.

Although Meloni has so far ruled out an alliance with Vannacci, the far-right FN is polling ahead of both Meloni's allies, the anti-immigrant League and centre-right Forza Italia, and she may yet need him.

According to a recent survey by Ipsos Doxa, the centre-left coalition could surpass the 42-percent threshold, provided it overcomes internal divisions and persuades two small radical parties to join forces.

Meloni's term officially ends in October 2027, but she could opt to bring elections forward to April or May.

Opposition parties have already vowed to challenge the new electoral law in court before then.