In Italy, the right-wing coalition government led by Giorgia Meloni lost an important vote on the new election law prepared by itself in the House of Representatives, the lower house of the parliament, by 1 vote.
Prepared by the Meloni government; While negotiations on the new election law reform, which includes additional seat bonuses for the alliance that wins the elections, continue in the House of Representatives, a critical vote was held today.
While the talks continued, Meloni's party, the Brothers of Italy (FdI) and other right-wing parties brought; The proposal, which provides voters with the opportunity to vote preferentially among candidates on party lists, was voted in the General Assembly of the House of Representatives.
Of the deputies who participated in the secret ballot in the 400-seat House of Representatives, 187 voted "Yes" and 188 voted "No". With this result, the Meloni government's proposal was rejected.
The results of the vote were welcomed with great joy and enthusiasm by the opposition ranks in the parliament.
The opposition calls for "resignation" and "early elections" to the Meloni government
Deputies of the opposition left parties called for early elections, saying "election, election".
Elly Schlein, leader of the main opposition party, the Democratic Party (PD), said in a statement after the vote: "It is time to return home and give the country a government that can solve the problems of Italians. You must accept failure and return home." he said.
Giuseppe Conte, the leader of the 5 Star Movement (M5S), also stated that the majority parties in power did not stand behind Meloni in this vote and called for a vote of no confidence in the government, and called for the government to resign.
Meloni: "There were also many votes missing within the ruling majority. We need to think about this"
Prime Minister Meloni made the following statement on his social media account after the vote was lost in the House of Representatives:
"After more than 30 years of closed list system, we tried to re-introduce preferential voting into the electoral law. The results show that the left and the opposition voted against it en masse. However, many votes were missing within the ruling majority. We need to think about it. We tried, but the swamp won again. It is a missed opportunity for the Italians, but it was right to try it."
Meloni also criticized the joy experienced by the opposition MPs after the vote in the parliament and said, "The image of the opposition celebrating this as if they had won the World Cup because they prevented the citizens from electing their own MPs says it all." he commented.
Antonio Tajani, leader of the Forza Italia Party, one of the junior partners of the coalition, and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, in his statement after the vote in the House of Representatives, described the government's loss of the vote in the parliament as a "road accident" and said that this was not a vote of confidence in the government and that they would move on.
In the comments in the press about the vote, it was stated that although Meloni's coalition partners, the League and Forza Italia, announced that they would support the bill, some MPs from the parties that formed the government also changed sides in the vote.
It was also stated that the government would not fall with this vote, but today's result was "heavy" for Meloni and his government.
For Prime Minister Meloni, who currently leads the second longest-lasting government among the governments established in the country since the Second World War, things are not going as he wanted, one year before the general elections. Meloni's government lost the referendum on judicial reform on March 22-23, suffering its "first serious defeat" according to many political authorities.