The day after. La sentenza della corte costituzionale sulla legge elettorale

With decision no. 1/2014, delivered on January 13, 2014, the Italian Constitutional Court struck down two aspects of the current electoral law (no. 270/2005): the majority prize (premio di maggioranza) and the closed-list system (liste bloccate). The first mechanism gives the winners too many seats compared to the number of votes obtained (at national level, in the Lower House; and at the regional level, in the Upper House): 55 per cent of seats whatever the majority gained. The Court found that the majority prize violates the principles of popular sovereignty (art. 1 Const.), equality before the law (art. 3 Const.) and equality of the vote (art. 48 Const.). The second mechanism prevents voters from exercising their democratic prerogative of expressing a preference for specific candidates, giving them only the chance to choosing a very long party list, in which candidates are ranked in order of electoral priority by party leaders. The Court ruled that closed-list system, as regulated by the current electoral law, violates the principle of the freedom of the vote (art. 48 Const.). Following the Court?s decision, the Democratic Party (PD), the Forza Italia (FI) and the Nuovo Centrodestra group (NCD) agreed on a new electoral regulation, the so called "Italicum". Now the question is whether this proposal complies with the requirements of the Italian Constitutional Court.