Well guess what, I can watch the Italian Senate live on TV here in Italy just like at home and it has exactly the same sort of discussions, although to be quite honest, the suits are better. For anyone with a knowledge of Italian, the next session is on 28 July, http://www.senato.it. Since a constitutional change in late 2005, Law 270 decreed that a proportional representation system should be used to elect the 315 members although there are also a small number (7 at present) of former presidents and very distinguished scientists and writers. The Chamber of Deputies (our House of Commons) and the Senate are both voted for in districts although the districts are larger for the Senators, corresponding to the Regions, with, 6 senators allocated for Italians living abroad (I’m not sure why there is this provision). The electoral system is very similar to the one for the lower house, transferred to regional basis. The thresholds are also different, and applied on a regional basis:
- Minimum 20% for a coalition.
- Minimum 8% for any party not in a coalition.
- Minimum 3% for any party in a coalition (there is no exception for the first party in a coalition below this threshold, unlike the lower house).
The coalition that wins a plurality in a region is automatically given 55% of the region’s seats, if it has not reached that percentage already. As this mechanism is region-based, however, and opposing parties or coalitions may benefit from it in different regions, it guarantees no clear majority for any block in the Senate, unlike the system in the Chamber of Deputies.
The law 270 system has been much criticised from the centre-left opposition, suspecting Berlusconi, who introduced it, of a plot to prevent the smaller left wing parties forming a coalition. The system is considered to be less stable than the previous system and is not guaranteed to produce a clear majority. This was thought to be one reason which lay behind the governmental crisis which occurred with the fall of the Prodi government in January 2008.In the event however, these small parties formed alliances to reach the threshold 3%, and the Centre Left won a surprise victory despite the system.
- But it is clear that the Italian system has great difficulty enacting any controversial ie unpopular legislation and I for one sympathise with Berlusconi’s wish to introduce a more streamlined system. I am less sympathetic to the uses he may wish to put it to.
The Senate meets in a glorious 16th century building in Rome, the Palazza Madama, see above. The woman after whom the palace in Rome was named is Margaret of Austria, who lived in the palace in Rome for about thirty years although for many years she lived in the Netherlands, where she was a skilled governor.
I seem to remember that the senate is voted only by those over 25, which seemed very odd indeed…
What a tremendously complicated system of election. It just goes to show that an elected chamber is not the way to bring parliamentarians and strangers closer together.
Hmm.. Couldn’t you negotiate a ‘job swap’ arrangement for six months ??
Croft, you are right, voting for the Senate is confined to those of 25 and over and not only that, senators themselves must be 40 or over. Looking at our 16 local Tuscan senatori, they are mostly university professors or local government administrators but with a sprinkling of entrepreneurs and other professions. They don’t need to live in the constituency. One of our local senators lives in Milan.
Kyle, public ignorance in Italy about what the Senate does is probably worse than in the UK. They have no idea who their local representatives are and not much interest. I think part of the problem is this very complicated voting system as you suggest.
Very interesting to hear about alternative systems and how they work out in practice, especially as it seems possible that there may be reforms to the UK’s voting system in the near future.
I would be very interested to hear your opinions on how the Italian Senate complements the Chamber of Deputies. To me it always seemed that two houses elected/appointed in more or less the same way was pointless, since they would add anything to the political process not already provided by the other house.
I would also appreciate some commentary on their contribution to legislation and scrutiny. You say that of the Tuscan Senatori, there is a substantial amount of professors: is this widespread, do you know? As a proponent of a revising upper house with expertise, professors are certainly one of the prime groups that I see as well placed for this process, and I’d love to hear how successful they are in Italy, where they are elected rather than appointed.
Nicolas, the way legislation is formed in Italy is surprisingly similar to the UK. Although the bicameral system operates in two separate buildings and looks as if there is very little connection between the two, the reality is that in practice the Bills move back and forth across the Chambers in a process very similar to ours. The one big difference between their powers and the UK House of Lords is that the Italian Government must get approval, by a resolution of approval to proceed, from both houses to instigate a programme of legislation at the beginning of every new government term.
The Italian parliament has a strong civil service which probably does more detailed work in the legislature than we have access to in the UK House of Lords. If we went to an elected system we would need that too.
Len, I have to confess my ignorance about the total proportion of professors in the Senate and how they get where they are. Next year I hope to find out more in person from talking to one and I can report back