The new Chambers are underway, waiting for the presidents: this is what happens this week

The day ‘X’ is upon us: Thursday 13 October the Chamber and Senate are convened to elect the new presidents. It is the first formal act of the start of the 19th legislature. But it also represents the first “political” test for the center-right coalition, to which the polls have entrusted a clear victory and with numbers that, at least on paper, allow the new majority to navigate smoothly in the parliamentary halls. Finally, the election of the presidents of Montecitorio and Palazzo Madama is also the first institutional step necessary to allow consultations to be started at the Quirinale with the talks that, by constitutional practice, start with the presidents emeritus and immediately after with the presidents. of the two houses of Parliament. In the meantime, today the newly elected are entering the Chambers for the ritual registrations. But let’s examine the schedule of the week day by day.

The schedule of the week

Monday 10th October. After the verdict of the Supreme Court which on Saturday definitively sanctioned the names of the elect, the new deputies and neosenators this morning will cross the doors of the two buildings for the fulfillment of the bureaucratic tasks: from registration to the photo for the parliamentary card up to the assignment of the account personal. It will be a first “school day” marked by an absolute novelty: 345 fewer deputies and senators will occupy the benches of the two chambers, a consequence of the constitutional reform by M5s which cut the number of elected officials: from 630 to 400 in Montecitorio , from 315 to 200 in Palazzo Madama.

The new reduced hemicycle

A “void” that will also be rendered plastically by the arrangement in the Chamber: the “extreme” wings of the benches in the Chamber’s hemicycle will be reduced (there are about eighty voting stations that will retire), even if not eliminated by the all to guarantee the capacity during the common sessions. At Montecitorio, the real novelty will be the new electronic display, placed behind the highest chair reserved for the presidency, which will not only report the votes, but will also account for every single document that is about to be approved or rejected and, above all, will project the video image of the deputy speaking in the Chamber. The hemicycle of Palazzo Madama has also undergone a restyling, with the elimination of some stations.

The assembly of deputies of FdI

Also on Monday 10 at 11.30 the first assembly of FdI parliamentarians will be held with the leader Giorgia Meloni.

The first call of the Chamber and Senate

Thursday 13 October. It will be up to the senator for life Liliana Segre and to the outgoing vice president of Montecitorio, Renziano Ettore Rosato, ‘will direct the work of the first session of the two houses of Parliament scheduled for Thursday 13 October. The respective provisional presidents will then proceed with the proclamation of the elect.

Montecitorio

By Friday 14. The Chamber of Deputies is convened on Thursday at 10: after the constitution of the provisional Bureau, the constitution of the provisional elections and therefore the proclamation of the elected deputies, the vote will begin to elect the successor of Roberto Fico. The ballot is secret and given the majorities required in the first three votes (of two thirds of the members of the Chamber, of two thirds of the votes counting among the votes also the blank ballots), the election is expected from the fourth ballot onwards, when it will be an absolute majority of votes is sufficient, ie at least 201 votes. Numbers widely available to the majority, which can count on at least 237 deputies (the outcome of the examination by the Supreme Court on the definitive allocation of some seats is awaited). So, at most for Friday afternoon you should know the name of the new president.

Madama Palace

By Thursday 13. The Senate Chamber is always convened for Thursday, but at 10:30. Once the technical-bureaucratic formalities have been completed, the vote for the election of the successor of Elisabetta Casellati. Here the required numbers (absolute majority of the votes of the components, equal to 104 senators, including those for life) allow the center-right (which can count on at least 113 senators) to elect the new president from the first ballot, therefore on the same day of Thursday . Then the groups will have to be constituted (deputies and senators will have to communicate to their respective presidents which group they intend to join): a procedure that could be carried out between Saturday and Sunday.

The election of the group leaders

Sunday 16 October. The last formal act, before the start of the consultations, will be the convocation of the groups to proceed with the election of the group leaders who, together with the party leaders, will go up to the Hill to be heard by the Head of State. The election of the group leaders, according to the rumors of the building, could take place between Sunday 16 and Monday 17 in the morning at the latest.