Downsizing the Parliament in Italy: A Missed Constitutional Amendment and Façade Innovation

Abstract

In September 2020 a referendum on the reduction of the number of lawmakers was held in Italy and almost 70 percent of voters definitively approved it. Accordingly, effective next term of the chambers in 2023, the total number of MPs will be lowered from 945 to 600, more than one-third. In particular, the Chamber of Deputies will be slashed from 630 to 400 and the Senate from 315 to 200. Such a constitutional amendment is a façade innovation as it did not address the very question of Italian bicameralism, namely the perfect identity between its chambers.