Amputated democracy: amputated general indifference, the referendum on the reform that cuts parliamentarians is approaching
The referendum on constitutional reform that cuts the number of parliamentarians is approaching in the general disinterest of the first post- Covid summer. On this front too, the government is disunited and the media are relegating a central issue for our democracy – the one concerning the relationship between representatives and represented – in the central pages of newspapers, between Elisabetta Canalis' Instagram profile and the fight against oyster farm by Lina Wertmuller. But anyway …
On 20 and 21 September, a vote will be taken to cut 115 senators and 230 deputies, reducing the Chambers from 915 to 600 representatives. This is a constitutional reform strongly desired by the majority party related to the government, the 5 Star Movement, which makes it a flag of its political action. The text was approved by a transversal majority in Parliament. No party intends to pass for what it would like to "keep the seats": the political lexicon at the time of Peronism chic gave us this metaphor to describe the constitutionally fundamental activity of voter representation.
However, there are fundamental differences between the choices of the parties in Montecitorio and Palazzo Madama. The League has consistently always voted in favor of the cut since the first time the text was brought to the court. We have already said about the 5 stars. The other day, Luigi Di Maio published an image of him on his social channels in front of a newspaper framed in his office entitled "The Di Maio cut" . The Democratic Party, on the other hand, is as always undecided about everything. In the first three readings in the classroom he voted against defining the measure as "populist". Then, once he joined the Conte 2 government, he was decisive for the final approval of the text. Finally, through the mouth of his secretary and one of the men closest to him, Goffredo Bettini, he would like to step back because the reform is not accompanied by a new proportional electoral law which according to the Dems would guarantee the stability of the system, perhaps even his democracy.
When dealing with a reform of this magnitude, it would be necessary to deal ex ante with the relationship between elected representatives and electors and with the so-called optimal areas of representation. If the reform were to pass, the ratio would be one elected for every 150,000 citizens, which is the highest ratio in Europe.
Secondly, the reform submitted to a referendum does not address the issue of the quality of the elected representatives and their proximity to the voters, but is dictated by the desire to show that Italians' money is saved. Certainly not the ideal basis for getting your hands on the Constitution.
Then subordinating it to a further electoral reform in a proportional sense as the Democratic Party would like it seems sheer madness. A proportional system with a low barrier would lead to the proliferation of personal parties with blackmail powers against governments. Blackmail is all the more evident when the numbers are lowered to ensure the survival of the executives. There would be no choice of candidates by citizens but lists already pre-packaged by the party secretariats. Let alone the choice of the prime minister. In short, it seems like a system to give us no longer Count 1 or 2, but the Count ad infinitum .
Among other things, the high ratio between representatives and represented is not even mitigated by a strong presence of local autonomies, whose role is recognized by Article 5 of the Constitution but does not have the features of other systems such as the federal ones. . Municipalities, Provinces – whose legislative assemblies have been removed – and Regions certainly do not have the powers of the German Lander or of the States in the American Constitution. Rather. The requests for autonomy of some regions are systematically opposed by Rome, whether they are received by popular acclaim as in the case of Lombardy and Veneto or by requests from the same local authorities (Emilia-Romagna, Liguria and Campania). It is worth noting that the perfect bicameralism will remain such and that the Senate will not be transformed into a Chamber of Regions but will maintain the same functions that it has today equivalent to those of the Chamber of Deputies. The grillina constitutional reform is incomplete, guided only by the desire to advertise with the drumbeats that follow the word "cut", and without an organic vision that would lead the country towards a governing democracy. The Democratic Party shows predictable resistance, but its remedy is the classic patch that would make things worse. Courage mes amis ; in a few years the proponents of federalism and the majority electoral law will be back in fashion …
The post Democracy amputated: amputated general indifference, the referendum on the reform that cuts parliamentarians is approaching appeared first on Atlantico Quotidiano .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Atlantico Quotidiano at the URL http://www.atlanticoquotidiano.it/quotidiano/democrazia-amputata-nellindifferenza-generale-si-avvicina-il-referendum-sulla-riforma-che-taglia-i-parlamentari/ on Wed, 05 Aug 2020 04:05:00 +0000.