Overview
- The Chamber of Deputies voted 188 to 187 on Tuesday in a secret ballot to reject the FdI–Noi Moderati–Udc amendment that would have reintroduced preferences to the Stabilicum.
- The proposed amendment kept a blocked capolista and put forward seven‑name lists where voters could mark up to three gender‑alternated preferences among the remaining six candidates.
- The decision to allow secret scrutiny on many amendments, approved by the Chamber presidency at opposition request, enabled clandestine defections that overturned public instructions from Lega and Forza Italia and exposed coalition fractures.
- The one‑vote defeat triggered immediate political fallout with opposition chants for elections and resignations, demands from Giuseppe Conte to open a government crisis, and organized protests including a night vigil in Piazza Montecitorio.
- The Stabilicum bill itself remains under debate and will go to the Senate, but its final shape is now uncertain because the draft awards a 70‑seat bonus in the Chamber and 35 in the Senate to any coalition over 42% and simulations show the hybrid preference model would mainly benefit larger parties while leaving small parties' MPs mostly chosen by party hierarchies.