Preferences without blocked list leaders rejected in the Senate: 68 in favour, 99 against

The Senate Assembly rejected on September 10, with 68 votes in favour and 99 against, the opposition’s sub-amendment, first signed by Dario Parrini (Pd), which removed blocked list leaders in order to introduce preferences without pre-established lists (LaPresse, QN). The blocked list leaders provided for in the centre-right’s joint amendment therefore remain in place.

The step was expected: we reported on it on September 9, when the reform reached the Assembly without a mandate for the rapporteur and with the issue of preferences postponed to a vote in the Chamber.

The day unfolded in three stages. At the opening of the session the Assembly rejected the preliminary constitutional objections raised by the opposition (Il Corriere Nazionale). Proceedings then stopped: the session was suspended for more than two and a half hours at the request of Fratelli d’Italia, for a majority summit at Palazzo Madama with group leaders and technical staff, also attended by the Minister for Institutional Reforms (ANSA). When proceedings resumed, the vote followed.

On the sub-amendment the government did not express its own position. “The government leaves the decision to the Chamber on some amendments. Parliament is sovereign,” said the Minister for Institutional Reforms Elisabetta Casellati (Agenzia Nova). Leaving the decision to the Chamber formally left the majority free to act: the numerical result shows that, after the summit, Fratelli d’Italia, Lega and Forza Italia voted in the same direction, supporting only the text agreed among themselves.

On the opposition side, the president of the Pd group in the Senate, Francesco Boccia, framed the vote as a political dividing line: “The vote we are about to cast becomes a test of truth.”

The day’s second outcome concerns a different mechanism. The majority dropped the rule on the runoff: the Pera amendment was excluded due to the opposition of Lega and Forza Italia, and the issue was set aside (Il Sussidiario). The two developments should be read together: on the selection of elected representatives the coalition held to the line of the joint text, while on the mechanism for allocating the majority bonus it chose to remove from the table a proposal that was causing division.

On the procedural front, the framework remains as described in recent days. The final Senate vote is scheduled for September 15; if the text leaves Palazzo Madama amended compared with the version approved by the Chamber, it returns to the other branch of Parliament from September 28. The calendar does not currently provide for any further intermediate steps.

Amendments still under examination remain to be voted on: the outcome of September 10 concerns a single sub-amendment and does not close the discussion on the article. The figure to watch in the coming days is the durability of the 99 votes against, as measured across the votes to follow up to September 15.

Sources: LaPresse; QN – Quotidiano Nazionale; Agenzia Nova; ANSA; Il Corriere Nazionale; Il Sussidiario.