Nearly four million young people aged 18 to 24 will finally be able to vote also to elect senators. President Sergio Mattarella has promulgated the constitutional reform law which, starting from the next political elections, will put an end to an asymmetry in the vote of the two chambers that has been discussed for decades.
Up to now, only citizens who have reached the age of 25 can vote for the Senate, which affects the different composition of the two Assemblies. And which according to various constitutionalists is one of the major causes of the difficulty of finding effective majorities in the Senate.
A new pool of votes that comes into play for the formation of new governments and that gives a voice to the youngest and most dynamic part of the country. There remains a small reform that is part of the ten-year beating on perfect bicameralism, which Renzi tried to overcome with a reform that was rejected by the voters.
It is impossible to predict which political forces will benefit most from the youth raid on the Senate, according to many, abstention will increase. Because of the weakening of ideologies and the inadequacy of civic and political education in Italian schools.
In the 1980s, about 80% of young Europeans declared themselves politically well oriented; now they are barely 30%; percentage that collapses to 10% for joining political parties in the 15-24 age bracket.
But the discrepancy had to be remedied and the data confirm it: on the occasion of the last political elections of 4 March 2018, the citizens called to the polls for the election of the Chamber of Deputies were approximately 46,600,000, compared to approximately 42,900,000 called. to compete for the election of the Senate, with a difference of over 3,700,000 voters, equal to approximately 8% of those entitled to vote for the Chamber of Deputies.
It is surprising that Parliament has not dealt with another rule, closely linked to the one approved and judged by many to be anachronistic. We are talking about the right of passive electorate, which still sets the limit of 40 years to be elected senator.
(Unioneonline / L)