Italian Parliament approves election law giving seat bonus to winners

Italy's Chamber of Deputies passed a law awarding bonus parliamentary seats to election winners in a 227-164 secret vote, a priority for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni ahead of next year's elections.

The law lets a coalition hitting 42% support claim a 56% majority, hands out 70 bonus seats in the lower house and 35 in the Senate, and raises the signature threshold for new parties to 400,000 nationwide. Opposition leader Elly Schlein called it unconstitutional and a mid-game rule change; critics have compared it to a 1923 law that helped Mussolini's party dominate Parliament.

The Constitutional Court is expected to review the law as soon as February. Analysts note the irony that a new far-right party polling above 7% could keep Meloni's own coalition from reaching the threshold the law was designed to guarantee her.

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