Changing hands down: only 45 compared to 84 in the previous legislature

Since the elections in the 19th parliamentary term, there have been 45 group changes: 37 in the House and 8 in the Senate. Out of a total of 605 MPs, this is 7.43 per cent. Almost half compared to the last legislature when there were 84, mostly linked to the divorce between Azione and Italia viva. Doing the maths is OpenPolis, which on the eve of the vote for the European elections counted the number of changes of name in parliament in the current legislature. These numbers are not particularly high, Openpolis points out, 'but the comparison with the previous legislature shows that things can change very quickly'. In the current year, 2024, there have been six group changes so far. In the first year, the changes have weighed modestly on the parliamentary dynamics. The divorce between Action and Italia viva at the end of 2023, on the other hand, affected the numbers.

Almost half of the changes - 21 in all - took place in the first month of the legislature. In those days, the Green and Left Alliance (Avs) and We the Moderates groups were formed in derogation of the rules, and the procedure took several days to complete. In the meantime, MPs from these formations provisionally joined the mixed group. There were few transitions in the following months. In November 2022 - the second month of the 19th legislature that began on 13 October 2022 - the life senatorCarlo Rubbia, who until then had not been a member of any group, joined the Per le Autonomie formation. In January 2023 Aboubakar Soumahoro, after having self-suspended after the judicial affair involving his family moved from the Green Left Alliance to the Mixed Group. Afterwards Michela Vittoria Brambilla left the Mixed Group for Noi moderati, Enrico Borghi left the Partito democratico to join Italia viva, like Dafne Musolino, the senator who joined Italia viva leaving Per le autonomie.

The split between Azione and Italia Viva led to new changes of colours in December 2023. In the Chamber of Deputies, the Italia Viva group was born with nine MPs, while in the Senate, four members of Azione left the group to join the Mixed (they did not have the numbers to form a new formation). The political rift between Carlo Calenda and Matteo Renzi brought the number of changes to 39 at the end of 2023 (32 in the Chamber and 7 in the Senate). These numbers are low compared to those of the last legislature, when there were almost twice as many group changes (84). However, it must be considered that in the last legislature there were 945 MPs, whereas today there are 600. Indeed, Constitutional Law No 1 of 19 October 2020 provided for a drastic reduction in the number of MPs - by amending Articles 56 and 57 of the Constitution - from 630 to 400 MPs and from 315 to 200 senators. Moreover, for the first 18 months there were fewer group changes in the last legislature than in the current one. The situation also changed with the split of the PD and the birth of Italia viva (September 2019). "A dynamic," OpenPolis points out, "that presents some parallels with the split between Azione and Italia viva that took place last December, although this one involved significantly fewer MPs.

Six changes in 2024. In February, the first two group changes of the year, when a deputy and a senator of the 5-Star Movement left the group, in disagreement with the line taken on the war in Ukraine: the deputy Federica Onori joined the Azione group, while the senator Raffaele De Rosa joined Forza Italia, the party with which he also ran in the European elections. In April there were three changes of colours. The Honourable Eleonora Evi - former MEP in 2014 and 2019 in the ranks of the M5S - switched from the Green and Left Alliance to the PD, which also nominated her for the European Parliament. During that legislature, her break with the movement led her to join Green Europe and then become its co-spokesperson in tandem with Angelo Bonelli. It was precisely the disagreements with Bonelli, however, that led her to resign from her post and later join the PD. Antonino Minardo and Lorenzo Cesa joined the Mixed Group in April, the former leaving the League and the latter Noi moderati. Changes that would be linked to a political agreement between Salvini's League and Cesa's Union of the Centre (Udc) in view of the European elections. The latest change is in May: Giuseppe Castiglione, left Azione to join Forza Italia, due to 'irremediable political differences, particularly regarding relations with Cuffaro and his group in Sicily'. Relations with Cuffaro had already been a source of friction between Azione and other political forces, such as +Europa and Italia viva, just as a possible political agreement for the European elections was being discussed. An agreement that was not reached.

On the change of colours front, it must not be forgotten that each parliamentarian is free to act without a mandate constraint, as Article 67 of the Constitution prescribes: 'Every member of parliament represents the nation and exercises his functions without a mandate constraint'. Every parliamentarian can join the group he or she prefers and change it if he or she sees fit. In past legislatures, many group changes have been a clear symptom of transformism in the political system. 'A dynamic,' Openpolis emphasises, 'that is even less comprehensible to citizens in a system in which most MPs are elected by the proportional method and with blocked lists.