458. What can be learnt from Italy’s new government?

Italy is probably the last country you would go looking for lessons on politics, you may say. But as an outsider looking in I can’t help thinking, if not actually foresee, the new Italian government will set the pattern for governments of the future of other countries too.

The fact is, there is no longer a clear line which distinguishes the left from the right, as has been the case for the last century or two.

In most countries in Europe, the voting system is not one where, as in America, there are only two finalists and one for certain gains beyond the 50% of votes and governs. Most voting systems in Europe yield only relative majorities. Of course, these systems represent more democratically the will of the people, at the cost however of leaving the country in an ungovernable state until coalitions are formed; which may take months, sometimes never, in that case you are faced with new elections ad infinitum.

The often derided, so called, “Populist” have taught us there no longer can exist governments consisting totally of left or right or even centre factions because the votes expressed by the electorate reflect that each faction has the right of its own to govern, but cannot do so without being allied to another faction which has the same right, and together form an overall majority. Leaving the question of “Who’s in charge?” wide open. Our idea of democracy once meant that from the polls we would expect a majority and a minority but this is no longer so. Nowadays the polls no longer yield a majority and a minority but the electorate expresses itself in thirds and since mathematics is not an opinion we know to make a majority, only two of those thirds may govern. The question that arises and which causes most difficulty is, which two thirds has more democratic right to govern, as this is not what the voters can choose, but the elected are the ones who must find their alliances.

However, the right and the left in Italy have not died off. The new government is made up of The “Lega Nord” which represents most of the right wing voters and whose leader Matteo Salvini is a vice Prime-Minister, while the “Cinque Stelle” who “usurped” most of the votes from the official left wing party, and whose leader Luigi Di Maio is also a vice-Prime-Minister can be said to be truly left-wing if anything. Never has it been known in the history of Italy that the left and right have governed together, in what seems a lively, but nevertheless compact coalition.

Due to this electoral upheaval things, government wise have changed. There’s serious talk of cutting the “golden” pensions, the robbing the rich to pay the poor, type of thing. Ensuring that Bridges, as the tragic events in Genoa have revealed, are no longer placed in the hands of careless individuals.  Salvini, the leader of the right has made world headlines because for once someone in the Italian government have put their foot down and said stop to illegal immigration. Everyone in Brussels looked up and stared “How dare Italy speak up for herself!” Indeed, in the past Italian EU parliamentarians were all “yes” men, afraid that if they spoke someone would cut off their air supply.

So, I for one am glad that the last elections have yielded such an odd pair of bed-fellows. And as the newly elected “sole” Prime-Minister, Giuseppe Conte said, opposites not necessarily are a disadvantage, but can attract and serve as a gearing mechanism to the system. Only time can tell how things will effectively turn out... However, never say never.