Electoral law, government calls for confidence vote in the Chamber: final vote on Thursday

The Meloni government has called a confidence vote on the first three articles of the electoral law reform in the Chamber of Deputies. The move comes after the constitutionality objections raised by the opposition were rejected with 229 votes against.

By calling a confidence vote on the three articles already amended in the Senate, the executive aims to shield their approval, avoiding the risk of amendments that could alter their content on the floor. The final vote on the entire measure, by secret ballot, is set for Thursday, October 8.

The parliamentary opposition reacted harshly to the government’s choice. In a joint statement, the opposition groups spoke of an executive that “is afraid of its own majority, a slap in the face to Parliament,” accusing the majority of resorting to the confidence vote tool to avoid an open debate on the merits of the reform.

The secret ballot mechanism, planned for Thursday’s final vote, introduces an additional element of uncertainty compared to today’s confidence vote: unlike the latter, which takes place by open vote and thus binds the majority groups, the secret ballot leaves room for individual defections, something the opposition’s statement itself seems to underscore by explicitly speaking of “fear of its own majority.”

The reform’s path is nonetheless approaching its decisive step. After the rejection of the objections and today’s confidence vote on the first three articles, the next milestone is the final vote on Thursday, October 8, when it will become clear whether the majority that backed the confidence vote will also hold in the secret ballot on the entire text. Until then, the measure remains suspended between the shielded approval of the initial articles and the uncertainty of the secret ballot, the only stage in which majority discipline is not guaranteed by an open vote.