4 January 2007
The new election law
I’m publishing the interview I gave today to il Corriere della Sera about the election law.
CdS: Antonio Di Pietro, have you listened to the words of President Napolitano on the election law? He invites everyone to patiently look for an agreement.
ADP: But we all think this. However there’s another problem.
CdS: That is?
ADP: That if one believes a return to the majority system is the panacea for all ills, that’s a big mistake.
CdS: The President of the Republic says: Look for an agreement on the election mechanisms that make it more straightforward and safer to form a majority that is called to govern the country. That’s like saying: what has been done so far has not worked.
ADP: As it has been conceived, the majority system only eliminates the small parties, but it doesn’t allow the voters to identify in the bigger parties the candidate they want to send into Parliament. It is evident that up till now, the new system has produced aberrations. Thus I am in favour of reforming the election law – but not in favour of a referendum. I want a law that guarantees governability and fair representation.
CdS: That is?
ADP: I’m proposing a Germany-type chancellorship. For example, we in Italia dei Valori believe that it is possible to find a system to put together a just representation of diverse interests and governability, and at the same time follow the German model. Perhaps with a threshold at 5 per cent to avoid thousands of tiny parties. Or even the model we use here for the Regions.
CdS: Are you convinced about proportional representation?
ADP: I think that the ominous effects of the proportional system of once upon a time are visible for all to see. It produced the division into lots of the First Republic. But I believe that we are becoming aware of the negative consequences of the Italian majority system: only 10 people establish who goes to Parliament… This is why the thing that interests me most as a party is to start a dialogue on the election law with the parties of the opposition.
CdS: Casini has said: let’s write the rules of the game together.ADP: Yes. And he has proposed the German model that I believe in. I’d say that there is a basis on which we could work together.
Posted by Antonio Di Pietro in Politics