Bipartisan appeal: yes to the anti-extremist run-off

And what if no one reaches the 42 per cent threshold required to trigger the majority bonus provided for by the Melonellum in the name of stability (hence the name ‘Stabilicum’ given to the electoral reform currently in its final stages in the Senate)? We’ll be heading straight back to the ‘quagmire’ of the First Republic.

The risk is not so far-fetched when one considers the rise of extreme ‘third poles’: whilst Roberto Vannacci’s Futuro Nazionale is already polling at over 7 per cent, a possible ‘Grillo-style’ party led by Alessandro Di Battista – who has already set up an association called ‘Schierarsi’ – is estimated to be polling between 3 and 5 per cent. Not to mention that a third force capable of taking votes away from the centre-left already exists: Carlo Calenda’s Azione, which is firmly determined not to join a coalition and to stand alone in the name of pro-Europeanism.

Hence the cross-party initiative by the associations LibertàEguale, which is aligned with the Democratic camp, and Magna Carta, the long-standing think tank of the centre-right moderates chaired by former minister Gaetano Quagliariello: an open letter, a sort of appeal to Parliament, calling for a reconsideration of the rule that a national run-off between the top two candidates is held if neither reaches 42 per cent – a rule initially included in the Melonellum at the suggestion of Fratelli d’Italia but subsequently set aside due to political resistance from the Lega and Forza Italia. Among the signatories of the appeal, alongside Quagliariello, are Peppino Calderisi, Stefano Ceccanti, Francesco Clementi, Giovanni Guzzetta, Fabrizio Cicchitto, Carlo Fusaro, Nicola Latorre, Claudia Mancina, Enrico Morando, Tommaso Nannicini, Arturo Parisi, Claudio Petruccioli, Umberto Ranieri and Giorgio Tonini.

 “‘We, the women and men who have served in public institutions and/or been involved in the education of the younger generations, believe it would be beneficial to introduce a national run-off vote into the electoral law, adopting a system similar to that in place in larger municipalities,’ write the signatories of the open letter. A simple system that allows citizens to choose a governing majority, thereby preventing overly diverse coalitions – including far-right and far-left groups – from standing for election in a single round of voting.”

The point is precisely this: a system with a run-off would allow the centre-right to ignore Vannacci in the first round by targeting his voters directly in the second round, and the centre-left to do the same with Di Battista’s potential list. ‘Contrary to widely held beliefs, electoral trends and opinion poll forecasts indicate that a national run-off for general elections would not offer a guaranteed advantage to any of the coalitions or political forces in the running,’ concludes the cross-party appeal. The contest would remain wide open; given the current balance of power between the parties, no one can take victory for granted, but a national run-off would give citizens the choice of government and isolate the extremist parties. The electoral reform bill will be debated in the Senate on 9 September, with approval expected on 15 September. Given that the text will already have been revised to include the reintroduction of the amendment on preferential voting – which was rejected in the Chamber of Deputies by a secret ballot – who knows whether the summer recess might prove fruitful, opening the way for reflection on the run-off system as well.