Ciao! Grazie! Italy’s Election Drama Explained
By Ben Miller
Remember a few months ago when Italy decided to have an election? They were done with Silvio Berlusconi, that was for sure, and all ready to elect a new Prime Minister. How did that work out, again?
Oh. Right. Absolute deadlock. They’ve been unable to form a governing coalition for two months. This week, however, there’s been some movement. Let’s go through the players again, to better understand what in the hell is going on over there.
Parliamentary coalition government. Remember that one Politics class you took that one time? No? Here’s the basics: parties are allocated seats based on the percentage of the vote they receive. In order to form a government, parties have to make a coalition large enough (50%+1) to pass legislation through both the House and Senate. Never mind that Italian election law has seat bonuses and criminal immunities and a million other complexities that have contributed to this godawful mess. Just focus on 50%+1.
The problem is that February’s elections left Italy with three almost-equally balanced political factions. On the right: Berlusconi’s team. Think of them as the Cher party: gypsies, tramps, and thieves. Mostly thieves. On the center-left: the Democratic Party’s coalition; an uneasy alliance of centrist technocrats, former Communists, and gay earring-bedazzled Pasolini-quoting current Communists. (Nicchi Vendola is my favorite.) Then, somewhere off the political grid entirely, is Beppe Grillo’s Five-Star coalition, led by comedian Grillo and a motley crew of malaise-stricken protestors, Nobel laureates in literature, etc. It would be kind of like Stephen Colbert starting a political party featuring equal parts Occupy and the Tea Party movement. With Jonathan Franzen thrown in there too, for good measure.
The problem is that Five-Star won’t make a coalition with either side. The Democrats don’t want to work with Berlusconi, and Berlusconi just doesn’t want to have his media empire broken up, go to jail for corruption or child prostitution or campaign finance scandals or any of the myriad and sundry things he’s been hauled in front of the courts for since the mid-1990s.
Enter Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, who is nobody’s idea of the most dynamic figure in the world. Aging, frail; he’s sort of like the healthful Swedish crispbread of Italian politics. There’s a lot of there there, but there’s not much dynamic skill. Former Communist, current technocrat, poor Giorgio is 87-years-old, and probably just wants to go anywhere in Italy other than the capital and drink some wine in peace.
But no. See, he’s coming to the end of his first term, and the President can only call new elections before the last few months of his term. Italy needs new elections, so they needed a new President — it’s always been a one-term gig. But after five inconclusive ballots, Napolitano proved the only thing the various parties could agree on. He’s President again, and will be into his 90s. Then Italy will vote again.
The current leader in the polls? Silvio Berlusconi.
Here it goes again.
