Meloni defeated in parliament over her electoral reform
The Italian parliament has rejected a centerpiece of the electoral reform pushed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, including with votes from her own camp. The opposition reads the defeat as a sign of weakness ahead of next year's election.
Meloni is on the verge of governing for as long an unbroken stretch as almost no Italian head of government before her, yet now she had to accept a stinging parliamentary defeat. The facts are undisputed: parliament rejected the central part of her electoral reform, and dissenters from her own majority contributed to the defeat. In the interpretation, the reading of a setback prevails across the spectrum: the conservative FAZ stresses that the opposition is pleased, but at the same time points to Meloni's continued governing strength; the liberal Die Zeit highlights that the rejection came about "including with votes from her own camp." Serbia's B92 broadcaster asks most pointedly whether "Meloni's seat is wobbling." The sources agree that the defeat dents Meloni's aura of being unchallenged; what is contested is whether it is a temporary mishap or the first cracks in her coalition a year before the election.