ROME: Italian lawmakers cheered a crushing referendum victory that will cut their numbers – safe in the knowledge that their parliamentary life will probably be extended by the reform.
This week about 70% of Italians backed slashing the number of parliamentary seats to 600 from 945, in a reform championed by the co-ruling anti-establishment 5-Star Movement.
Now constituency boundaries will have to be redrawn, a two-month-long process, and parliamentarians will think twice before triggering a new election.
“A smaller parliament is one with fewer places, so the current crop of lawmakers feel more threatened and will want to hang on to their seats,” said Lorenzo Pregliasco, head of polling and political analysis firm YouTrend.
Maurizio Gasparri, a senator from Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party who has been in…