Stranica 1 [1]
OCR
! X.A.No.12 for October 1952. THE SITUATION IN ITALY. a A few days ago, ín the very last days of September, the Italian Farliament convened for a last session. It will be terminated next spring, when new parliamentery elections are scheduled. According to all informations, one of the foremost agendas on the calendar of this last session cf parliament will be a new electoral law. This new law will abolish the present proportional representation system, and wili replace it by a law obviously inspired by the present french electoral system. Thos means, that parties will be permitted to make official electoral coalitions, while keeping their own list. If a coali-< tion achieves 50% or more 4n one constituency, it takes all the seats of that constituency , which may amount to ten and more, While all the other parties get nothing at all, the members of the coalition then distribute the seata among themselves accor= ‘ding to the proportionate system, This system has worked quite succesfully in France to keep the Commumist and Gaullist represen~tetion down, while giving the democratic center croups a strong representation, much larger than warranted by their electoral strencth, While so far nothing has yet been said officially in Italy Italy of the new law, inside informations clearly show that this is the plan of the Democrazia Christiana, in order to keep its power against the onslought from right or left it mst face. And this will be accepted in the Italian parliament the more with pleasure, since the utterly discredited parties of the Genter, the R.publicans of P,¢cciardi, the Liberals, the Socialists torn asunder in the personel squabblesof Saragat and Romita, see in such a juggling of electoral results the only way of keeping alive. These parties hope, in alliance with the Democrazia Christiana, to ride in with the help of the new system. This desperate scramble for legalistic tricks in order to keep in power, is due to the very serious warning the ruling parties received at the mtmicipal elections of May 25th, At these slections the Communists not only were able to increase their hold, Much more important was the fact that huge macces of voters deserted the ranks of the Middle Parties to swell those of the resurgent right, the Monarchists and the MSI. As it stends today, the combined opposition of right and left has a force beyond forty percent of the voters. And if the studies of the trends made by the best observers are right, this trend is rapidly inereasing to such a degree, that by the spring of 1953 it is likely to be beyond 50% of the voters. To gave the majority something had to be dons, The only question is :t will it succeed ? 5 GS |
