Referendum on a change in the electoral system in Italy

a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7qdVUCEB_Jq-1H874LnDCGHBMwN89Fr78lDpX14zwM15d3lxTgNa3ZdufBnBiWPYOGewEfrHmlOM4kAgDkPl9qhjuVyI8hKRmSoyhXY3GjSj_6i3HMxRiZfKhJ3iCAGsrA2JBr3zu5VRO/s1600-h/vote.jpeg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 103px; height: 124px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7qdVUCEB_Jq-1H874LnDCGHBMwN89Fr78lDpX14zwM15d3lxTgNa3ZdufBnBiWPYOGewEfrHmlOM4kAgDkPl9qhjuVyI8hKRmSoyhXY3GjSj_6i3HMxRiZfKhJ3iCAGsrA2JBr3zu5VRO/s320/vote.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350402638620783282" border="0" //abr /Fruit and Votes a href="http://fruitsandvotes.com/?p=3051" mentions that there was recently an electoral system referendum in Italy /a. Voters were voting on whether they wished a 'winner's bonus' to be given to the biggest party [rather than the biggest bloc] in legislative elections. The winner's bonus currently means that the largest bloc is guaranteed a majority in the Chamber of Deputies [and virtually certain to get one in the Senate as well]. It thus encourages parties to form pre-election coalitions.br /br /Changing the winner's bonus to one for the largest party - and therefore guaranteeing it a majority in Parliament - would move Italy to a 2-party system. Smaller parties like the Communist Refoundation Party and the Northern League would find it very difficult to get votes, since there would be huge pressure on voters to vote for their favoured party out of the two big ones (People of Freedom and Democratic Party) to try and ensure the other one didn't come top of the polls and get an overall majority. In my view, it would have excessively constrained voter choice. It also had the possibility of being very disproportional since a party which came top - even if it got a lot less than 50% of the votes cast - would get 51%+ of the seats. It would thus be even more biased to the largest party than first-past-the-post [which at least has the potential of a hung parliament].br /br /To pass, a referendum needs a 50%+1 turnout among the electorate. This minimum turnout was not met. In fact, only 23% turned out. As such, the referendum failed and Italy will keep its current electoral law.br /br /Interestingly, the minimum turnout requirement for the referendum means that the best approach for those opposed to a change is to abstain rather than to vote against. Abstaining will help make sure the measure doesn't reach the quorum, whereas voting against would help it meet the quorum. As such, a referendum needs to have the support of a majority of the electorate [rather than just the people voting] to win. This is highly unlikely on controversial questions. After all, assuming 25% of the population won't vote anyway, a referendum needs the support of two-thirds of the remainder to be passed.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/38622711-7536691142416513005?l=vinospoliticalblog.blogspot.com'//div

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