Elections in Italy: The next steps in the political process

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The cleaner the result the shorter the duration of the fermentations, however some steps are impossible to speed up.

After the victory of the coalition of far-right and far-right factions under Giorgia Meloni in the early parliamentary elections held in Italy on Sunday, a new government will be formed, but the road to get there is likely to be full of sharp turns and long.

In the past, the process took four to twelve weeks. In general, the cleaner the result the shorter the duration of the fermentations, however some steps are impossible to speed up.

It is a given that Italy will be represented by resigned caretaker Prime Minister Mario Draghi at the informal EU Summit in Prague on 7 October.

Here are the next steps of the political process in Italy after the elections.

Official results

The interior ministry is expected to post on its website the official final results of the vote count within the day.

Convocation of Parliament

The new members of the Senate and the House must, by virtue of the Constitution, meet within 20 days of the election, in other words on October 15 at the latest.

After they are formed into a body and the first plenary sessions are held, it is required to elect the presidencies of the two bodies and then the process of forming a government will begin.

The president begins deliberations

Political tradition in Italy calls for the president of the Republic to start consultations on naming the new head of government with the presidents of the two houses of parliament, then the leaders of the largest parties and the leaders of their parliamentary groups.

If the result is clear, these consultations are short, lasting at most two days, but if not, they can last up to a week, after which the head of state orders the formation of a new government to some personality.

The latter assumes the mandate “with reservation”, begins negotiations with allies on ministerial positions and the government program. After these negotiations, if successful, the candidate appears before the president and “removes the reservation”.

Finally a government

The composition of the new government is then announced and sworn in before the President of the Republic on the same day or the next day at the latest. The figure then moves to Palazzo Chichi, the seat of government, for the transfer of power from the previous one.

In recent Italian history, two records stand out: Silvio Berlusconi needed only 24 days in 2008 to enter the Palazzo Chigi; Giuseppe Conte needed no less than 89 days in 2018 to travel this route.

RES-EMP

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