Debate on the electoral law in the Chamber of Deputies postponed until 14 July. Protest to ensure that students living away from home can vote
Ahead of the deadline for submitting amendments to the electoral law, set for Monday 6 July, the organisation The Good Lobby, together with Will and Rete Voto Fuorisede, presented representatives of all the political parties present with a giant version of the bill featuring a hole in the centre to symbolise the lack of provisions on voting away from one’s constituency
Key points
The leadership of the Chamber of Deputies has decided that the next stage of the examination of the electoral reform bill will take place in the Chamber from 14 July. The meeting had been called specifically to discuss the timetable for the bill after it was tabled in the Chamber on 26 June for general debate; until now, it had been assumed, based on the Chamber’s calendar, that voting would get underway next week.
The protest outside Montecitorio
Meanwhile, a protest was organised this morning outside the Chamber of Deputies to call on the majority to include the right to vote for students living away from home in the electoral reform. Ahead of the deadline for tabling amendments to the electoral law, set for Monday 6 July, on the morning of Wednesday 1 July, the organisation The Good Lobby, together with Will and Rete Voto Fuorisede, organised a symbolic protest in front of Palazzo Montecitorio, handing representatives of all the political parties present a giant version of the bill with a hole in the centre to symbolise the lack of provisions on voting away from one’s home constituency.
Associations, new media organisations and youth wings of political parties across the political spectrum took part, as well as parliamentary representatives. Among them were Rachele Scarpa representing the Democratic Party, Luana Zanella (Alliance of the Greens and the Left), Vittoria Baldino (Five Star Movement), Riccardo Magi (+Europa), Giulia Pastorella (Azione), Marianna Madia (Italia Viva), Fabio Roscani (Fratelli d’Italia).
Whilst last week the Chamber of Deputies’ Constitutional Affairs Committee gave the green light to the electoral law – a bill which, as the associations point out, fails to take into account the campaign waged by citizens and civil society organisations in recent years – this symbolic gesture provided an opportunity to renew and reaffirm the commitment to including the right to vote away from one’s constituency in the reform, and to highlight the enormous gap currently caused by the definitive absence of legislation on remote voting.
“This is not a partisan reform, but a necessary democratic step forward that can no longer be postponed; it enjoys broad public support and could finally enable nearly 5 million citizens – who are away from their place of residence for reasons of study, work or health – to cast their votes,” stressed Yari Russo, a campaigner for The Good Lobby and representative of the Rete Voto Fuorisede network.
