The Rosatellum, which harmonises the contrasting laws in the House and Senate, was passed by an alliance of three of the biggest parties - Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party (PD), Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia (FI) and the Northern League (LN) - as well as the smaller Popular Area (AP) party.
All that was needed was the president’s go-ahead to get the law across the line.
Dubbed the “Rosatellum” after PD House Whip Ettore Rosato, the new law sets up a two-thirds proportional and one-third first-past-the-post system.
It has an entry bar of 3 per cent for parties and 10 per cent for coalitions.
The law, which encourages parties to form coalitions, has been blasted by the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), which never runs with other parties.
The party’s leaders argue that the law is designed to prevent the M5S from winning the next election, due by March 2018.
M5S leader Luigi Di Maio reacted to Mr Mattarella’s approval of the law by saying the party would continue to fight its implementation.
“The game now moves to the Constitutional Court where our detailed appeal is pending,” he said.
Fellow M5S bigwig, Alessandro Di Battista, said that by passing the new law, the president has made a mistake, just as he did with Italy’s 2015 electoral law, the Italicum.
With ANSA
