• Elections: ok Chamber with 257 yes and 148 no. The text passes to the Senate

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June 18, 2020

Bagarre in the Senate after the general discussion on the Elections decree has ended. The Northern League player Roberto Calderoli had asked for the vote so as not to immediately start the examination of the article of the decree. And with a show of hands the postponement had been approved. But the counter-test, with electronic vote, gave the opposite result: Calderoli's request was rejected for just 2 votes (102 in favor, 104 against). 

Hence the tussle in the Chamber. Several opposition senators attacked demanding that the votes be verified. And the president of Palazzo Madama therefore decided to suspend the session to check what had happened. Forza Italia also asked to monitor the images of the closed circuit to check who was actually present at the time of the first vote.

Based on the verification of the videos inside the Senate and the testimony of the parliamentary assistants, it was found that "no senator has entered the Chamber" or in the seats of the "tribunes", after the doors had been closed to proceed with the electronic vote of the counter-test. . President Elisabetta Casellati communicated this to the Chamber at the end of the audit.

"During the plenary session at approximately 12.15 pm, the president declared the requested counter-test open after a vote by show of hands and subsequently ordered the closing of the doors", reports in Aula Casellati, reading the outcome of the verification conducted by the Quaestors. "The parliamentary assistants immediately provided for the closing of the doors, not only of the hemicycle but of all the stands, after then, according to the testimonies of the parliamentary assistants, no senator appears to have entered. Only the staff of the administration to deliver the tablets necessary for the vote to some senators who were without them, but who were already inside, huddled near the closed door to have them delivered and at the most excited moment they left the seats in the stands empty. who remained outside the Chamber and were unable to vote, "explains Casellati again reading the list of senators, including several group leaders such as Marcucci (Pd), Bernini (FI) and Romeo (Lega)." Senator Drago ", of 5-star movement, "said it had voted in error despite being left out of the gallery. Therefore the result is that the Senate does not approve" Calderoli's proposal "with 104 votes against and 102 in favor. "

If the proposal had been approved, it would have prevented the House from passing to the vote on the decree, effectively preventing the government from placing trust.

The Government places confidence in the Senate
"On behalf of the government and authorized by the Council of Ministers, I put the question of trust in the identical text approved in the Chamber of Deputies" said Minister for Relations with Parliament Federico D'Incà, taking the floor in the Senate and placing trust in the election decree.