Italy gets ready for electoral reforms, courtesy Berlusconi
21 Jan 2014 11:23 PM GMT
But the Saturday night agreement between 77-year-old Berlusconi, still head of the center-right Forza Italia party he founded, and Democratic Party (PD) leader Matteo Renzi has divided the governing coalition.
Smaller parties in the coalition of Prime Minister Enrico Letta, who also belongs to the PD, are irate about such an agreement because they could risk extinction under a new electoral system.
The left wing of the PD has accused Renzi, 39, of facilitating the rehabilitation of a convicted criminal.
Berlusconi denies the fraud charges and is appealing a separate conviction for paying for sex with an underage girl.
With the highest debt burden in the euro zone after Greece, Italy - mired in its longest post-war recession - is closely watched by financial markets and European partners as a flashpoint for instability in the bloc.
Italy’s politicians are making a fresh attempt to reform the electoral system in the hope of providing steadier and more durable government.
In last year’s election, no party gained enough votes to govern alone, plunging the country into political stalemate before the creation of a broad-based coalition government which has constantly bickered and struggled to produce reforms. Renzi, who is also mayor of Florence, held two-and-a-half hours of talks with Berlusconi at PD headquarters in Rome.
The irony of Berlusconi entering the headquarters of the political heirs of the communist party he has long despised, was not lost on anyone. The offices still have pictures of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara on their walls.
A demonstrator hit Berlusconi’s car with an egg and another held up a photo montage of the former prime minister behind bars.
He was expelled from parliament in November after the fraud conviction became definitive and has been leading his party from outside parliament.
GOVERNABILITY
Renzi and Berlusconi favor a system based on proportional representation with a large number of small constituencies each electing four or five representatives and a winner’s bonus of 15-20 percent of seats. Parties winning below five percent of the vote would not get into parliament.
Smaller parties in the coalition of Prime Minister Enrico Letta, who also belongs to the PD, are irate about such an agreement because they could risk extinction under a new electoral system.
The left wing of the PD has accused Renzi, 39, of facilitating the rehabilitation of a convicted criminal.
Berlusconi denies the fraud charges and is appealing a separate conviction for paying for sex with an underage girl.
With the highest debt burden in the euro zone after Greece, Italy - mired in its longest post-war recession - is closely watched by financial markets and European partners as a flashpoint for instability in the bloc.
Italy’s politicians are making a fresh attempt to reform the electoral system in the hope of providing steadier and more durable government.
In last year’s election, no party gained enough votes to govern alone, plunging the country into political stalemate before the creation of a broad-based coalition government which has constantly bickered and struggled to produce reforms. Renzi, who is also mayor of Florence, held two-and-a-half hours of talks with Berlusconi at PD headquarters in Rome.
The irony of Berlusconi entering the headquarters of the political heirs of the communist party he has long despised, was not lost on anyone. The offices still have pictures of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara on their walls.
A demonstrator hit Berlusconi’s car with an egg and another held up a photo montage of the former prime minister behind bars.
He was expelled from parliament in November after the fraud conviction became definitive and has been leading his party from outside parliament.
GOVERNABILITY
Renzi and Berlusconi favor a system based on proportional representation with a large number of small constituencies each electing four or five representatives and a winner’s bonus of 15-20 percent of seats. Parties winning below five percent of the vote would not get into parliament.
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