Proportional, Mattarellum, Porcellum, Italicum, Rosatellum and now Stabilicum: the electoral law in Italy is always provisional. Here’s how we got here, and what will really change in the next vote.
It seems increasingly certain that next year we will vote with a new electoral law. First the approval in the Senate, this Monday the return to the Chamber, with Prime Minister Meloni having already announced the armoring of the text through a vote of confidence.
With the law currently under study, the so-called Stabilicum, the objective is to give a strong majority premium to the coalition that wins the elections by exceeding 42% of valid votes, up to a maximum of 220 deputies out of 400 and 113 senators out of 200.
If the definitive text of the electoral law has not yet been formalised, it nevertheless appears clear that the direction seems to be taken: Italy will change the electoral law again. It may therefore be useful to sort out the mess of laws that have followed one another over the last 30 years.
The first Republic: pure proportional
For almost half a century, from 1946 to 1993, Italy used a system pure proportional electoral both for the election of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.
The mechanism provided for the allocation of seats in a strictly proportional manner to the votes obtained by each list within multi-member constituencies, without any majority bonus and with blocked lists in which the voter could not express preferences.
The system produced strong political fragmentation, with the presence of many parties in Parliament and the need to form complex and highly unstable coalitions. The governability of the country was therefore sacrificed in the name of the most faithful representation possible.
The pure proportional it remained in force until the 1993 referendumwhen Italians expressed themselves in favor of a majoritarian system.
Mattarellum
The “Mattarellum“, conceived by the current President of the Republic Sergio Mattarellawas the electoral system used for the political elections of 1994, 1996 and 2001.
It was a mixed system, where the 75% of the seats were assigned with a single-round majority system in single-member constituenciesin which the candidate who obtained the most votes was elected. The remaining 25% of the seats were distributed by a proportional method.
The system had the aim of promoting the coalition of political forces and reducing parliamentary fragmentation compared to the First Republic, giving greater governability.
Porcellum and Italicum
The “Porcellum” (dating back to 2005) was introduced during the Berlusconi government and used for the 2006, 2008 and 2013 elections.
It was about a proportional system with blocked listsin which the voter could not express preferences and the candidates were elected based on the order of their presentation on the list.
In the Chamber there was a majority bonus of 55% of the seats (340 out of 630) for the coalition or party that obtained the most votes at a national level; in the Senate the prize was awarded on a regional basis. In 2014 the Constitutional Court declared its partial illegitimacy, eliminating the majority bonus and the blocked lists.
Then there was the brief parenthesis of “Italicum” (2015), approved for the election of the Chamber of Deputies alone, in view of constitutional reform Renzi-Boschi which would have transformed the Senate into an indirectly elected body.
It envisaged a proportional system with a majority bonus of 340 seats out of 630 for the list that obtained at least 40% of the valid votes; otherwise, a run-off would take place between the two lists with the most votes.
However, the Italicum never entered into force for the election of the Senate and was declared constitutionally illegitimate in the part relating to the ballot by the Constitutional Court in 2017.
From Rosatellum to Stabilicum
Thus we arrive at more recent times. The last election took place with the “Rosatellum” (law 3 November 2017, n. 165). Un mixed system in which 37.5% of the seats are assigned with a majority system in single-member constituencies with a single round, while the remaining 62.5% is distributed with a proportional method in multi-member constituencies, without preferences and with blocked lists.
However, the Rosatellum has the risk of producing majoritarian effects that vary depending on the gap between the coalitions, as demonstrated by the 2018 elections.
With the new reform of the “Stabilicum”, a prize for the coalition or list that exceeds 42% of the votes in both houses of Parliament, with 70 additional seats in the Chamber and 35 in the Senate, up to a ceiling of 220 deputies and 113 senators. If the threshold is not reached in both branches, we return to pure proportional, with no reward for anyone.
An amendment approved in the Senate on 11 September 2026 also abolished the anti-fragmentation rule: even the votes of lists that obtain less than 3% will now contribute to the count towards reaching the 42% threshold.
We therefore move from a mixed system without a premium to a proportional system with a majority premium, with the declared objective of ensure greater governability.
It must not be forgotten that the longevity of the Meloni government (the longest lasting ever) is unique in republican history. Before it, from 1946 to 2022 Italy had 67 governments in just 76 years. The political stability inaugurated by the Meloni government must not be wasted.
