Italy’s Chamber of Deputies has approved a major change to the electoral system for citizens living abroad, but this is not yet law. Both chambers must approve exactly the same text. If the Senate changes even one provision, the bill must return to the Chamber. Only after both chambers approve an identical version can the President of the Republic promulgate it.
Under the amendment approved by the Chamber, the current four overseas electoral districts would be replaced by two for Chamber elections – Europe and the rest of the world. For Senate elections, all countries would form a single worldwide district. The reform would affect nearly 7 million Italian citizens abroad.
The three parliamentarians elected in North and Central America hold different political positions.
Christian Di Sanzo, a Chamber member representing the Democratic Party, strongly opposes the measure. He warned that combining North America, South America, Africa, Asia, Oceania and Antarctica could effectively eliminate representation from less populous regions. He noted that South America has approximately 2.1 million Italian residents, compared with about 580,000 in North America and 340,000 across Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Francesca La Marca, a Democratic Party senator, has also announced firm opposition. She described overseas representation as a democratic achievement, not a privilege, and argued that grouping vast, profoundly different territories would weaken the direct relationship between elected officials and their communities.
Andrea Di Giuseppe, a Chamber member from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d'Italia, belongs to the governing party that supported the amendment. However, no explicit public statement by Di Giuseppe on this specific redistricting proposal could be independently verified at the time of publication. His personal position should therefore not be inferred solely from his party affiliation.
