How the Electoral Law Known as the “Rosetalem” Works

Rules governing parliamentary elections in Italy contained in two unique texts, one for Lok Sabha ,DPR 361/1957) and for one republic senate ,DPR 533/1993) therefore the approval of a new electoral law takes the form of a revision of these two single texts. This is certainly known in the case of electoral law. ,rosettelum,L 165/2017) The journalistic name of this rule is derived from the then leader of the Democratic Party on the one hand. ator rosato (Then passed to the surviving Italy in the XVIII legislature which has just ended). On the other hand, a Latinism initially introduced by the political scientist giovanni sartori whose name he had changed.”matarelum“Electoral Discipline Sanctioned in 1993 (L 276/1993 And L 177/1993,

By the way the current electoral discipline Start In large part the exact same plan is envisaged”matarelum“. This was, in fact, the first time a mixed formula was introduced for which a portion of the seats were assigned with the system aminominal and part with it Proportional, However, the main difference between these laws lies in the share of seats allotted under the two systems. really, “matarelum“Provided that 75% of the seats were assigned with a one-way system he is alone The remaining 25% is proportional. with, On the other hand, the law in force today, as we shall see better later, reverses the ratios substantially. Happen In fact, only 3/8 are assigned with a non-nominated system. of seats.

Polling stations provided by region “Rosetelm” by region

The “Rosetalem” electoral law provides that both the House and Senate 3/8 seats are allocated with a single-member majority system and the rest with a proportional system.

There are no multi-member colleges in Valle d’Aosta. And the region elects only one senator and one deputy, with a single-member system. ahead A special electoral system is envisaged for 8 deputies and 4 senators elected in a foreign constituency. on a proportionate basis.

uninominal component

As mentioned, 3/8 seats are assigned with a majority system Through Single member college. excluding the count of MPs elected abroad, so it is a question of 147 representatives (out of 392) E 74 senator (out of 1966).

37.5% seats allotted Using a single-member majority system in the House and Senate.

The majority system is known as the Uninominalspecific to Anglo-Saxon countries such as the United Kingdom or the United States, is very simple and provides in every college (ie each region into which the country is divided) The candidate who receives the most votes is elected, system so It favors major political forcesable to compete in each college, But political groups are also firmly rooted in specific areas., In fact, these may be competitive at least at some colleges. instead of being deprived They are forces that have an equitably distributed consensus on the field, however, not enough to reach colleges first.

It is no coincidence that in countries with a one-man tradition Parliament is usually made up of 2 or 3 parties, with the addition of some seats sometimes attributed to regional parties (such as the Scottish National Party).

In Italy, however, electoral law and political practice Provide for the possibility that candidates in single-member constituencies may be put in by coalitions rather than individual parties.

Without prejudice to the seats assigned to a foreign constituency and without prejudice to the provisions of Article 2, the seats are divided between lists and alliances, whereby the respective seats are attributed to single-member constituencies. . […] For those candidates who have obtained the maximum number of valid votes in each single-member constituency and declared elected.

– Consolidated text of the laws containing the rules for the election of the Chamber of Deputies

Thus, therefore, even the expression of a candidate of a minor partyIt, if supported by the rest of the coalition, could compete for the seat. The main parties in each coalition may benefit from adopting such a strategy, both to be more competitive with the opposing coalition, and because, as we shall see, the support of very short lists with regard to seats can also be of great help. Is. Allocated with the proportional system.

plurinominal component

Remaining seats (245 in the chamber and 122 in the Senate) Instead they are attributed to the proportional method of integer quotients and with the greatest remainder. Here a distinction is made between the two parliamentary halls. really Distribution in the Chamber is first on a national basis. Then 28 regional or infrastructural districts were envisaged. In the Senate, however, distribution is on a regional basis, in the application ofArticle 57 of the ConstitutionAnd the limits are therefore 20.

Rosettelum and the number of elected representatives in each periphery

Chamber for elections to the ninth legislature and the Senate in the “Rosetelm” constituencies provided for by the electoral law

The envisaged handicap limit for individual lists is 3%. whether they accumulate or not.

However in both cases to reach the distribution Coalitions must reach at least 10% of the vote, while individual lists, whether included or not, 3%. Specific rules are then provided for the parties representing linguistic minorities. In addition, lists who have obtained 20% in at least one area are also admitted to the division.

Coming to the real breakdown, Feather room As noted, it is the first at the national level among lists and coalitions that have exceeded the threshold. Then, for each alliance, between the lists above that range that are part of it. Once each list and the number of seats allocated to the coalition are established at the national level, the seats are divided proportionally at the constituency level., In this way, the number of seats in each constituency is determined by reason of each list. To managing committee The method to be followed is the same, but on a regional basis as mentioned.

With this system, therefore, a list that is part of the allianceif it doesn’t reach 3% threshold, does not get seats in the multi-member section. However, if you have received at least1% of valid votesThese are not scattered but distributed among other members of the alliance who have crossed the barrier.

Another important aspect of the current electoral system, in its proportional component, relates tolack of preferences, In effect, once the number of seats obtained from each list in each college is determined, the candidates are declared elected according to the order of presentation established by the list. Therefore, the voter is not given an opportunity to choose between the different candidates in each list.

Finally it is important to consider thatDespite the coexistence of two different systems, the ballot is unique. It is not possible to opt for separate voting. the voter can then express your vote in two ways: either dragging a mark on a listand thus it will also automatically express votes to the single-member candidate associated, or by making a mark on the non-enrolled candidateAnd in this case the vote will be divided among the various linked lists in proportion to the votes obtained in the college (L 351/1957 art. 31).

gender balance rule

Therefore, as we have seen, they are the leaders of the parties. and the coalition to establish both single-member candidates and the order in which each candidate is included in the proportional lists. Although from this point of view A limit has been put in place to guarantee gender balance, In fact, candidates from multi-member constituencies should be presented in each list in an alternate order by gender. Also, no gender in the selection of Capilista. can be held responsible for more than 60%, The same applies to single-member applications.

In single-member constituencies at the national level, no more than 60 percent of the total of the candidates presented by each list or coalition of lists can be represented by either gender, rounded to the nearest unit. Is. At the national level, neither gender can be represented by more than 60 percent of the total of the lists in the multi-member constituencies represented by each list, in the event of more than 60 percent of the leaders, rounded to the nearest unit.

This method, which of course favors more representation Of the style, however, it is not without drawbacks. as we saw with 2018 electionswith whom “rosettelum“, this electoral law allows candidates to be presented multiple times in different multi-member constituencies, although with some limitations (for example, there is a limit of 5 candidates in the chamber). Gender equality, at least partially obstructed.

Decrease in the number of MPs and other news

As mentioned rosetellum was usedTo elect representatives and senators to the XVIII legislature. On that occasion, however, the deputies to be elected were 630 and the senators were 315. constitutional reform With this reduced the number of MPs to less than a third, intervention was necessary to adapt the law to the new context. In fact, a law was introduced even before the constitutional reform was definitively adopted (L 51/2019) which guarantees the applicability of electoral systems regardless of the number of MPs. Soon after the amendment to the constitution, another law was approved (Law 177 2020) Which consequently determines the distribution of single-member and multi-member constituencies.

Therefore the applicability of the law was guaranteed, However, from a political point of view, some confusion may remain regarding the new distribution of colleges. Fewer MPs have to be elected In fact, colleges should be much larger, embracing areas that are sometimes dehumanizing and creating greater distance between the elector and the elected person.

Another novelty concerns voters who will be able to vote for the Senate. In fact, if until the last elections only those who had reached the age of 25 could vote for the Upper House, then Constitutional Law 1/2021 This distinction has been abolished and today adults can vote for representatives of both parliamentary halls.