Premier Giorgia Meloni said Sunday that the Constitutional reform her government wants to introduce will usher in Italy’s “Third Republic”.
The proposed reform would mean the Italian prime minister is directly elected by voters.
“We have a historic responsibility to consolidate the democracy of (government) alternation and finally take Italy into the Third Republic, with the Constitutional reform that this government intends to carry out” Meloni said in a message to a convention in Valle d’Aosta.
Reform Minister Maria Elisabetta Casellati said yesterday Meloni’s cabinet will examine a bill to amend the Constitution so the premier is directly elected by the people, next Friday.
Under the current system, parties engage in government-formation talks after a general election. Then the coalition that forms a ruling majority in parliament agrees on a figure to propose to the head of State to become premier.
That figure is not necessarily one of the politicians given by the parties as their premier candidate during the election campaign.
Meloni said the Constitutional reform would ensure Italy is governed by leaders chosen by the people and would make administrations more stable.
Italy is currently in what is considered the “Second Republic”, the party system that evolved after the Tangentopoli corruption scandal of the early 1990s. The scandal swept away the nation’s post-war political establishment, the “First Republic”.
