Berlusconi Steps Back From Election Reform Plans

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has distanced himself from controversial plans tabled by his own ruling coalition to switch from the current majority-based electoral system to a proportional representation only months ahead of next year’s general elections:

“In this bill – which I did not see, because it was drafted by constitutional experts – there are features which I did not agree with as soon as I was made aware of them,” he said during a press conference in Rome in remarks broadcast on Milan’s Radio Popolare.

Berlusconi particularly singled for criticism out plans to introduce of a 4-per-cent barrier which would keep small parties out of parliament and have their votes simply discarded.

“For example, I can already say right now that I rule out that, in the general count, the votes of those parties which might not reach any barrier – such as the mooted 4-per-cent threshold – could be discarded,” he said.

However, he added that “we cannot describe this as a fraudulent law”.

Earlier, Berlusconi offered to discuss with the centre-left opposition the electoral reform plans, which have come under fire from the opposition as well as from parts of the ruling coalition itself.

The opposition – which is ahead in most opinion polls but would be damaged by the reform as it currently stands having several small parties in its ranks – is engaging in filibustering to try and torpedo the changes in parliament.

If the reform is passed, Italy would revert to the proportional- representation system it had until 1993 – a system which gave heavy political clout to relatively small parties and contributed to the instability of the post-war governments.