See the Chamber and Senate results, broken down by party.
I take it that the provision that called for deducting from a bloc’s total any votes won by component parties that failed to reach 3% was not operative in the final version of the law. (This possibility was alluded to by Federico in the comments to an earlier post.) In fact, there are parties within each alliance with less than 3% of the vote but with seats.
In the Chamber, the center-left bloc of Prodi has 220 of its 340 seats held by L’Ulivo, and seven other parties having from 4 (Svp) to 41 (Rifondazione comunista) seats each. Svp had only 0.48% of the vote.
Five parties contributed votes to the left’s total share, but won no seats. The largest of these was the Partito Pansionati, with 0.88%. The total vote won by these unrepresented parties on the left was just 1.54%. I assume there is a districting arrangement that I had not previously been aware of, since some parties with representation are smaller than others without.
In the center-right bloc of Berlusconi, Forza Italia has 137 of the bloc’s 277 seats. Four other parties have from 4 (Christian Democrat) to 71 (Alleanze Nazionale) seats each. Seven parties have no seats and combined they had 1.6%.
In the Senate, where the 55% provision for the leading blocs applies not nationally (as it does in the Chamber), but within regional districts, the center-left squeaked by, 158 seats to 156. The Senate looks even more fragmented than the Chamber (presumably due to the regional districting).
Thanks to MW for the tip on the source.
Letter to George Bush
Perhaps I’m getting bigheaded, but I want to write to George Bush.
“ Open letter to George Bush.
I’m just a comic and you are a great president at the head of a great and powerful nation. Furthermore, you are also a great friend of our former President of the Council with whom you have many points in common: the Atlantic vision in place of the pacific one, great riches, the exportation of democracy with or without weapons, the personalisation of politics.
Allow me, very humbly, to ask you for an account of your behaviour in relation to Italy and the Italians.
Prodi has won the elections. Heads of State of many nations and the President of the European Community have sent their congratulations to him.
You are almost the only one who hasn’t done this.
And, in this situation, our former President of the Council does not recognise the election result thanks to your support.
You continue to not recognise Prodi as the legitimate winner, elected in free elections.
They were elections managed by the Minister of the Interior as a member of the Government in power.
They were elections in which voting went on according to a liberticida (liberty killing) election law guided through Parliament by your friend and in this case, your voice as a defender of democracy has not been heard.
You are not showing yourself to be a friend of our country and you are probably not even acting in the interests of your country.
If you don’t recognise Prodi, why should Italians recognise you? I believe and hope that your behaviour is simply a temporary institutional distraction. If this is not the case, Italians should ask themselves a few questions.
Why should we allow American Military Bases to be in our country?
Why should we tolerate the presence of American atomic weapons at Ghedi Torre, Brescia and at Aviano, Pordenone?
Why should we allow CIA agents to move around our country as though they were visiting your great ranch in Texas?
Why should we provide finance to a country that at this moment is hostile to us by buying American products, eating in American chains, supporting American companies in Italy?
I’m sure the Italians will know how to find the answers.â€
Vik (guerrilla radio)
italian blogger from Milan
Seed planted by guerrilla radio — 13 April 2006 @ 12:43
Looks like the deal is this:
coalitions need 10% to get in, and all the coalition’s votes are counted for the purpose of determining the winner.
Parties within coalitions need at least 2%, but the first party within a qualifying coalition that doesn’t get 2% (DC-NPSI and UDEUR) also gets seats. (Ethnic minority parties with over 20% in their constituency also get in–SVP, ALD).
Parties outside coalitions need 4% (nobody met this requirement).
A higher threshold (without the weird majoritarian thing) might have been good for Italian politics in the long run, but in the short run would have meant a Berlusconi win. This system does create a more proportional distribution of seats among coalition partners, though…
Seed planted by Alex — 14 April 2006 @ 01:29
Thanks, Alex. Wow, this Italian system gets more complex every time I read further explanation of it!
Seed planted by MShugart — 14 April 2006 @ 09:33
Government resigns after non-binding vote on war policy
The ruling alliance would like to change the electoral system before any new election, and so its component parties are likely to agree on a new governing formula, rather than prolong a crisis and force the president to call new elections.
Scion grafted by Fruits and Votes — 22 February 2007 @ 19:45