Constitutional Court could rule on electoral reform as early as February

Experts say the constitutional review of the recently passed electoral reform could be completed as early as February. The opposition network, comprising associations, constitutional scholars, journalists, lawyers and citizens, intends to submit draft appeals to roughly thirty civil tribunals immediately after the law becomes operative, which is fifteen days after its official gazette publication. Once a petition is lodged, a simplified procedure allows a judge to call a hearing after forty days and, if warranted, refer the matter to the Corte costituzionale.

The Consulta would then notify the parties, including the president of the Council of Ministers, and could schedule a hearing within twenty days of that notice. Roberto Zaccaria, the network’s coordinator, stresses that the timing is designed to secure a decision before the next election. The court’s intervention would come ten years after its 2017 ruling that partially struck down the Italicum law.