While Albanian citizens are on the street demanding (among other things) a change in the electoral law, the Italian Parliament has approved an electoral reform which very much resembles the one rejected by the Albanian population.

The issue here is “open” ballot versus “closed” ones: an open ballot is a list of candidates where the one who gets more preferences (votes) wins. A closed ballot is a list of candidates fully or partially decided by the party leadership. You can vote only for those candidates who are put on the ballot by the party leaders. Italy had an open ballot system until the “Britannia coup” in 1992, and since then, several electoral laws have been implemented, each one decided by the ruling coalition in order to win the next elections.

The new Italian election law gives a handout to constituency rights by formally introducing open ballots, but at the same time is making sure that the rate of candidates elected from the open ballot is low enough not to challenge the candidates elected with closed ballots. According to calculations, up to 80% of the Parliament would consist of candidates elected in such closed ballots.

Furthermore, if a coalition reaches 42% of the votes, it gets a “majority bonus” of 70 deputies and 35 senators, pulled out of a closed list.

At the same time, the number of notary-certified signatures necessary for new parties to run has increased by four times. It has been calculated that in order to run nationally, up to 300,000 signatures, collected in a short period of time, would be necessary.

A constitutional challenge has already been announced by opposition forces.