Italian Senate passes electoral amendment restoring preference votes with blocked list heads

Senate approves preference mechanism with blocked list leaders

The Italian Senate approved the ruling majority's joint amendment to the electoral reform bill on 10 September 2026, establishing a preference voting mechanism that retains blocked list heads. The measure passed with 97 votes in favour, 67 against, and two abstentions. Under the approved framework, voters may express up to three preference votes with mandatory gender alternation among six names printed on the ballot paper. If a voter selects multiple candidates without respecting gender alternation, the second and third preferences are automatically annulled. The gender alternation rule applies starting from the candidate placed directly below the party-selected list leader. The reform package also eliminates the 60 to 40 gender quota for list leaders that had been mandated under the previous Rosatellum electoral system.

Defeat of the opposition sub-amendment

Earlier in the session, the assembly rejected an opposition sub-amendment sponsored by Democratic Party senator Dario Parrini. The proposal sought to eliminate blocked list heads entirely in favour of open preference voting, but it failed with 68 votes in favour and 99 against. The government took a neutral stance before the vote, leaving the decision to the floor, which resulted in shouting and chants of shame from opposition benches. All other opposition amendments were rejected, with the sole exception of a technical drafting change passed unanimously. Fratelli d'Italia Senate group leader Lucio Malan noted that his party previously backed open preferences in the Chamber of Deputies, where the measure had failed by a single vote, and argued that the Democratic Party had accepted blocked list heads under Matteo Renzi's Italicum law.

Between an instrumental amendment on preferences from the opposition and maintaining majority agreements, we have no doubts: we keep our word and vote against this amendment.

Opposition attacks coalition over consistency

Opposition party leaders criticised the centre-right vote as a retreat from past commitments to eliminate party-appointed parliamentarians. Democratic Party Senate group leader Francesco Boccia termed the bill an unconstitutional tangle intended to maintain party control over elected officials, while Five Star Movement senator Alessandra Maiorino labelled the text an amendment of deception. Five Star Movement Senate group leader Luca Pirondini stated that blocked party lists effectively remain in place. Italia Viva leader Matteo Renzi cited Meloni's 2014 speeches urging that candidates without voter support should not sit in parliament, and Democratic Party secretary Elly Schlein stated that the opposition would unite against an excessive majority bonus tied to broader premiership reforms.

Preferences, in voting for Parliament, had been missing since 1993, which is almost 35 years. Today they return because the centre-right chose to reintroduce them, on the proposal of Fratelli d'Italia.

Broader political fallout and schedule

Ahead of the Senate session, Futuro Nazionale founder Roberto Vannacci called on Fratelli d'Italia to back open preferences, arguing that coalition partners feared losing protected seats. Fratelli d'Italia Chamber of Deputies group leader Galeazzo Bignami responded that the reform gives decision-making power back to citizens by ending fully closed lists. The vote arrives ahead of a parliamentary by-election in Reggio Calabria on 27 and 28 September 2026 to fill the Chamber seat vacated by Forza Italia member Francesco Cannizzaro following his municipal election victory in June. Centre-right coalition leaders agreed to maintain their voting discipline for the final Senate vote on the full electoral reform bill, scheduled for Tuesday, 15 September 2026.