Electoral law reaches Senate floor without mandate to rapporteur

The electoral law reform reached the Senate floor at 10 a.m. on September 9 without a mandate to the rapporteur: the Constitutional Affairs Committee acknowledged it could not complete the examination of the amendments, and the text senators are discussing in second reading is the one approved by the Chamber. It follows that the changes introduced in committee — including the amendment on preferences — are not part of the base text and will have to be voted again in the Assembly.

This newspaper had been following this development since early September: we wrote about it on September 2, while the committee was working on the amendments, and then on September 3, at the start of the votes. The parliamentary week had been outlined in the opening piece on September 8.

The technical fact has a measurable political consequence: without a mandate to the rapporteur, the Assembly does not receive a text consolidated by the committee, but the text originating from the Chamber. What had been decided in committee proceedings becomes once again a matter for a vote in the Assembly, where the numbers and attendance differ from those of a committee. The amendment on preferences, approved in committee on September 3, will therefore have to pass a second time through the scrutiny of the Assembly to be included in the measure.

At the start of the session, the opposition presented and outlined four preliminary objections. The calendar remains as set: sessions also on September 11 and 14, with no pre-established closing times, and the final vote at the Senate scheduled for September 15. The Chamber’s conference of group leaders has already established the next step: if the Senate amends the text, the measure will return to the Montecitorio floor starting Monday, September 28.

On two elements, the material available today does not allow us to go further. The first is the outcome of the Assembly votes on the individual amendments, preferences included: there are no votes yet. The second is which of the amendments left in committee will be resubmitted in the Assembly and in what number: this figure does not appear in today’s sources, and this newspaper does not estimate it.

The available sources agree on the two points that matter: the absence of a mandate to the rapporteur and the base text originating from the Chamber.

The count of useful days is therefore tight. From September 9 to 15, the Senate has sessions scheduled also on the 11th and 14th, in addition to the opening one, with no time limits: in this span the Assembly must vote on the amendments the committee did not finish, and then on the text as a whole. If the vote produces a text different from the Chamber’s, the shuttle starts again from Montecitorio on September 28.

Sources: ANSA (news agency) — September 9 session and work calendar; Alanews; Radio Radicale.