Italian constitutional scholars rally against proposed electoral reform

More than 160 Italian constitutional experts have launched the “Mille voci per un voto uguale” campaign to oppose the electoral reform currently under parliamentary debate. Their criticism centres on several elements they say threaten representative democracy:

The proposal grants a “governability bonus” of 70 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 35 in the Senate, a mechanism that could give a winning coalition an oversized majority and concentrate power. It also removes single‑member constituencies and replaces them with blocked party lists, reducing voters' ability to choose individual candidates. Additionally, the reform treats the autonomous region of Trentino‑Alto Adige specially, allowing its voters to influence the national bonus without a proportional reduction in their regional representation, effectively giving them a double vote.

The scholars argue that these changes would undermine the balance between citizens, Parliament and the government, risk a de‑facto premierate, and erode constitutional guarantees of equal voting power and parliamentary autonomy.