A parliamentary vote to elect a new
member of the Constitutional Court was inconclusive for the
eighth time on Tuesday amid a row over the ruling coalition
wanting Francesco Saverio Marini, an advisor on legal affairs to
Premier Giorgia Meloni, to become the justice.
Of the 342 lawmakers present for the vote, 323 cast blank
papers, while 10 papers were spoiled and nine were missing.
A majority of three-fifths of the 605 Italian parliamentarians
was needed to elect a replacement for the court's former
president Silvana Sciarra, whose term ended on November 11,
2023.
Italy's opposition parties had said early in the day that they
would snub the vote in protest at the decision to put forward
Marini's name.
Noting that they were only a handful of votes short of the
number needed to get him elected, the whips of the parties
supporting Meloni's government subsequently said the coalition's
lawmakers had been told to cast blank papers, rather than vote
for Marini.
"The opposition has decided to transform even the election of
constitutional judges into a field of political propaganda," the
ruling coalition's whips said.
"They decided to desert the Chamber despite the need to replace
a Constitutional Court justice after 10 months.
"Despite them, the ruling majority has decided to continue to
respect the institutions and today casts blank papers".
The Constitutional Court's decisions often regard political
issues.
For example, it is soon set to rule on whether the government's
law bringing in 'differentiated autonomy' to enable regions to
request more power over how the tax revenues collected in their
areas are spent is compatible with the Constitution.
"The opposition's unity has stopped the act of force that the
majority wanted to carry out. Now they should agree to
dialogue," said Democratic Party (PD) leader Elly Schlein.
"And when I talk about dialogue I don't mean quick calls to
'minority' parliamentarians to seek votes to move forward with
their act of force.
"If there is a qualified majority for this vote, it is precisely
because the Constitution foresees dialogue between the ruling
majority and the opposition.
"We have sought dialogue and the response so far has been a
wall.
"We hope that the fact that they have stopped is the premise for
the fact that a dialogue will now begin".
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