After the fall of the Draghi government, however engaged in dealing with current affairs with a wide perimeter, that of 25 September will in its own way be a historic vote, because it will lead to the establishment in October of two “small” rooms, which have lost more than 30% of parliamentarians. Constitutional reform no.1 of 19 October 2020 has in fact reduced the number of deputies from 630 to 400 and that of elected senators from 315 to 200: 600 parliamentarians in all, therefore, to which will be added the senators for life (no more than five nominable by the head of state). An unprecedented situation with inevitable changes in parliamentary activity. Soon, for example, the Hall of Palazzo Madama will reduce the number of permanent Commissions from 14 to 10 by merging some of them (Foreign and Defense, Environment and Public Works, Industry and Agriculture, Labor and Health).
But the reduction of seats in Parliament will have the first consequence of the exclusion of many of the current deputies and senators, who will not return to the Chamber after the next election.
“Slimming cure” for almost all parties
According to the polls that give them strong growth, only the Brothers of Italy would increase the current representation in Parliament (now 21 senators and 37 deputies). All the other groups risk a more or less pronounced “slimming cure”. Starting with the Five Stars. First party at the beginning of the legislature, in just over four years their representation between the Chamber and Senate has halved from 331 to 165 MPs. A process that culminated a month ago with the breakup wanted by Luigi Di Maio, who brought with him about sixty former grillini, creating “Together for the future”. Accredited not much above 10% on 25 September, the 5S could halve the current parliamentarians.
What can already be glimpsed in any case is a strong fibrillation for the composition of the lists. There are fewer and fewer single-member constituencies that are safe, and it will not be easy for party secretariats to find the right balance, also considering the gender quotas to ensure equal representation of men and women among the candidates. Not only. Time is running out. There is only one month left for the presentation of the lists (21 and 22 August).
The new geography of the colleges
The constituencies into which Italy is divided and which will shape the new Parliament have been redesigned with a 2020 decree that became necessary after the changes introduced with the constitutional law which reduced the number of parliamentarians to 600. With the new law, there are 221 single-member constituencies, assigned with the majority system (147 in the Chamber and 74 in the Senate), while the multi-member constituencies on a proportional basis are a total of 367 of which 245 in the Chamber and 122 in the Senate. To these are added the 12 colleges reserved for deputies and senators elected abroad (8 in the Chamber and 4 in the Senate).