Talk:Politics of Italy

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 24 January 2019 and 1 May 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): MaddieGenova.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 06:52, 17 January 2022 (UTC) == Votes of Confidence ==med. Xyzzyva 00:21, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

That's just what happened in Italy some days ago. In this case the prime minister has two options: either he resigns, or he tries to expand the coalition by making agreements with other political parties. If he resigns, another two options: either new elections are indicted, or he (or another politician from the same coalition) forms another government with new political parties.--Gspinoza 20:46, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Important notice

The government section of the "Outline of Italy" needs to be checked, corrected, and completed -- especially the subsections for the government branches.

When the country outlines were created, temporary data (that matched most of the countries but not all) was used to speed up the process. Those countries for which the temporary data does not match must be replaced with the correct information.

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Number of governments

The article states: "There have been frequent government turnovers since 1945, indeed there have been 61 governments in this time."

However, the article doesn't clearly explain what constitutes a government turnover, which isn't obvious to non-Italians given that the Christian Democracy held the prime ministership for 35 straight years during that period. List of Prime Ministers of Italy sheds some light on this; it appears that a government is considered to turnover when (a) there is a legislative election, (b) a party goes into or comes out of the government coalition, or (c) the prime minister changes. But that still doesn't explain all the government changes; I see that on 23 August 1982, there was a change between Giovanni Spadolini's 1st and 2nd governments, yet both governments had a DC-PSI-PSDI-PRI-PLI coalition. So how is an Italian government turnover defined? --Metropolitan90 (talk) 04:30, 29 May 2010 (UTC)

Italy is a Parliament-based system. A government changes when the parliament expires or when the parliament doesn't agree anymore to sustain the government team and actions.

When this happens a "crisis procedure" starts, the prime minister resign, the President of Republic interview the parliament groups leaders and decide for a new president and mandate.

Sometime it happens the new president is the same as the old one, but the "team" and "program" are rearranged to reflect the parliament opinions. The new team ask for a formal parliament approval, and -if it happens- the crisis closes.

When it is not possible to find a new agreement, the President of Republic dismiss the parliament and ask new elections.

Now, since during the "crisis" no government formally exist, even if the prime minister and the supporting coalition remain the same, we cannot say it is the same government. And we cannot even speak about "cabinet reshuffle" since there is no "cabinet": Citizens vote for the parliament composition, not for the president. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.116.246.120 (talk) 13:32, 21 July 2011 (UTC)

Political parties and elections

The colors in the figures of the "Political parties and elections" section are out of sync with the table -- dramatically so. Westringia f. (talk) 13:43, 1 August 2010 (UTC)

Corruption

There doesn't seem to be much mention of corruption? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.149.1.46 (talk) 22:11, 5 May 2011 (UTC)

A technical update?

As far as I can see, the current governo tecnico under Monti is mentioned only in the lede. In the main article, the Second Republic subsection stops at Berlusconi IV. MistyMorn (talk) 13:28, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

"Government"

The introductory section of "Government", before the "Head of State" subsection, seems completely redundant and even a little condescending in tone - an explanation of what democracy is in children's terms does not, IMO, belong here. Chuborno (talk) 17:52, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

Section of Political Parties

The section of political parties lacked any citations, which begs the question of if the article is missing information or if the edits are biased, so what resources are used to construct this article? The history of the Italian political parties are more extensive than the section given in the article. Evaluating more sources and making additional citations could expand on the archive of political parties. Jmhines (talk) 20:16, 11 February 2019 (UTC)Jmhines

Now cited to Geoffrey Pridham, Political Parties and Coalitional Behaviour in Italy (2013); and Günther Pallaver et al. eds. Populism, Populists, and the Crisis of Political Parties: A Comparison of Italy, Austria, and Germany 1990-2015 (2018) excerpt. Rjensen (talk) 22:42, 11 February 2019 (UTC)

Section on the First Republic

The last paragraph within the section on the First Republic lacks citations. This section may reflect some biased because of the lack of citations and resources. If this information given in this section from a recourse, does that resource have a neutral opinion? Jmhines (talk) 21:35, 11 February 2019 (UTC)Jmhines

now cited to Frederic Spotts and Theodor Wieser, eds. Italy: A Difficult Democracy: A Survey of Italian Politics . (1986) etc. Rjensen (talk) 22:46, 11 February 2019 (UTC)

Image: Regions of Italy by President's party

Unclear which year this is in reference to Bergmanucsd (talk) 03:18, 21 March 2019 (UTC)bergmanucsd

Hi :) Why do the articles Lega Nord Alto Adige – Südtirol and Lega Nord Valle d'Aosta have this name? They should be renamed as Lega Nord Sud Tirolo and Lega Nord Vallée d'Aoste as the logo shows + ANSA. Thanks for sharing your opinion. --Simoncik84 (talk) 15:51, 19 February 2020 (UTC)

Name of parties

Hi :) Why do the articles Lega Nord Alto Adige – Südtirol and Lega Nord Valle d'Aosta have this name? They should be renamed as Lega Nord Sud Tirolo and Lega Nord Vallée d'Aoste (as main title) as the logo shows + ANSA. Thanks for sharing your opinion. --Simoncik84 (talk) 15:51, 19 February 2020 (UTC)

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Why is the alleged rigging of a refetendum relevant?

I am not sure why thats in the opening... Ho ho ha hay (talk) 11:41, 17 August 2022 (UTC)

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Regional systems of governments

@User:GuesanLoyalist: Here we are. I much welcome this discussion.
The definition of "presidential system" in Wikipedia is "a presidential, strong-president, or single-executive system (sometimes also congressional system) is a form of government in which a head of government (usually titled 'president') heads an executive branch that derives its authority and legitimacy from a source that is separate from the legislative branch". Moreover, "the head of government is directly or indirectly elected by a group of citizens and is not responsible to the legislature, and the legislature cannot dismiss the president except in extraordinary cases. A presidential system contrasts with a parliamentary system, where the head of government (usually called a prime minister) derives their power from the confidence of an elected legislature, which can dismiss the prime minister with an ordinary majority".
Aosta Valley, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and, within the latter, the autonomous province of South Tyrol should be easy cases as there is no direct election of the president, who is instead appointed by the legislature. You can easily check Elections in Aosta Valley and Elections in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol: no direct election sorts.
The systems of government in the other 19 regions, as well as the autonomous province of Trentino, are trickier. Presidents are elected directly and most regional electoral laws provide the elected President of a majority in the legislative assembly, in most cases named Regional Council. According to article 122 of the Italian Constitution, "The President of the Regional Executive shall be elected by universal and direct suffrage, unless the regional statute provides otherwise". Article 123, first paragraph: "Each Region shall have a statute which, in compliance with the Constitution, shall lay down the form of government and basic principles for the organisation of the Region and the conduct of its business". Article 126, last paragraphs: "The Regional Council may adopt a reasoned motion of no confidence against the President of the Executive that is undersigned by at least one-fifth of its members and adopted by roll call vote with an absolute majority of members. The motion may not be debated before three days have elapsed since its introduction. The adoption of a no confidence motion against a President of the Executive elected by universal and direct suffrage, and the removal, permanent inability, death or voluntary resignation of the President of the Executive entail the resignation of the Executive and the dissolution of the Council. The same effects are produced by the simultaneous resignation of the majority of the Council members".
That is what is called the principle aut simul stabunt aut simul cadent and no presidential system has this. Please note that has nothing to do with impeachment, but with the confidence that the legislative assembly has to give to the president, something that has more to do with a parliamentaly system than a presidential one. Given that the regional systems of government are not presidential, they might be called "semi-presidential" or "quasi-presidential" or what?
-- Checco (talk) 19:29, 24 May 2026 (UTC)

Aosta Valley, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and, within the latter, the autonomous province of South Tyrol should be easy cases as there is no direct election of the president, who is instead appointed by the legislature. You can easily check Elections in Aosta Valley and Elections in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol: no direct election sorts.

The president can additionally be not elected by popular vote, a common alternative would be an electoral college (as demonstrated for the United States). My question is the president of an Italian region also reliant on the legislature for confidence votes, otherwise being able to be hit with a simple dismissment? If yes, then that might be eligible for a parliamentary republic with an executive presidency used in South Africa and Botswana. If no, then that's just a regular Assembly-independent republic seen in Switzerland and Micronesia.

Given that the regional systems of government are not presidential, they might be called "semi-presidential" or "quasi-presidential" or what?

See the choices listed before. It could additionally be able be called prime-ministerial system as well? GuesanLoyalist (talk) 07:55, 25 May 2026 (UTC)

In 18 regions, plus the autonomous province of Trento (Trentino), the president is indeed reliant on the legislature for confidence votes, otherwise being able to be hit with a simple dismissment. Additionally, he/she is elected jointly with the legislature, most regional electoral laws guarantee a large majority of seats to the coalition supporting the elected president and there is no clear separation of powers, a feature of most presidential systems. Those Italian regional systems of government could be both "parliamentary system with executive presidency" or "prime-ministerial system", but the problem is that there is no source for either system. In my view, "semi-presidential" is a safer bet. On the contrary, Aosta Valley, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and, within the latter, the autonomous province of Bolzano (South Tyrol) are fully parliamentary systems. --Checco (talk) 20:12, 26 May 2026 (UTC)

We could have a source that explains in detail of the parliamentary system of those 18 regions + Trento, but not directly state about it being prime ministerial/parliamentary-executive. Also semi-presidential system refers to a system where an directly executive executive head of state (usually called the president) along with a head of government dependent on the legislature, so that won't fit with the regions of Italy.

I proposed instead:

Prime-ministerial system with an executive presidency

be in the |government type= instead. GuesanLoyalist (talk) 00:29, 27 May 2026 (UTC)

Do you have that authoritative source? Any idea how to find it? Surely, the current source supporting "presidential system" is inaccurate. --Checco (talk) 21:40, 28 May 2026 (UTC)

This was merely a suggestion of mine, I would you to do the WP:BURDEN by finding the source for yourself. GuesanLoyalist (talk) 00:23, 29 May 2026 (UTC)

Uhm, no, the burden is yours, as it is you added an inaccurate information supported by a inaccurate source. Otherwise, we could simply remove "presidential system" and the inaccurate source from the infoboxes, returning to the status quo ante. --Checco (talk) 15:38, 30 May 2026 (UTC)

My edition would be more prefered by wikipedia's standards as I had a source along with a few others as well. You don't have one source backing what you claim. GuesanLoyalist (talk) 23:08, 30 May 2026 (UTC)

"Anomalous presidential system", not presidential, indeed! --Checco (talk) 13:38, 4 June 2026 (UTC)

It is still presidential, so just put it as something like parliamentary republics with an executive presidency in the government type. GuesanLoyalist (talk) 22:07, 4 June 2026 (UTC)

It would be great, but also unsourced—as of now. --Checco (talk) 19:40, 5 June 2026 (UTC)

Try getting the source and adding the |quote= function to contain the following:

Yet, contrary to what happens in pure presidential systems, the legislative body (i.e. the regional council) and the head of the executive are not elected separately. Each presidential candidate is supported by one or more electoral lists. Seats in the council are then allocated among these lists based on which presidential candidate obtains a plurality of the vote (Massetti

Citation 2018, 330–331). While directly elected, a regional president can still be removed by a no-confidence motion supported by an absolute majority of the councillors, as stated by article 126 of the Constitution.

or something similar. GuesanLoyalist (talk) 02:15, 6 June 2026 (UTC)