Italian Constitutional Court (Corte costituzionale italiana), No. 35/2017, 09 February 2017

Electoral majority prize.

Art. 1, par. 2, Constitution
Art. 3, Constitution
Art. 48, par. 2, Constitution
Art. 1, par. 1, Law 06/05/2015, No. 52
Art. 1, par. 5, D.P.R. 30/03/1957, No. 361

1. The legislature must be recognised as having broad discretion in the choice of the electoral system that it deems most appropriate in relation to the historical and political context in which that system is to operate, the Constitutional Court being reserved the right to intervene only in cases in which the rules introduced are manifestly unreasonable.

2. With regard to electoral systems, both the provision of a "majority" award, which makes it possible to attribute the absolute majority of seats in a representative assembly to the list that has obtained a given relative majority, and the provision of a "governability" award, which is conditional upon the attainment of a threshold equal to at least 50% of the votes or seats and is intended to increase the number of seats of a list or coalition that has already independently attained that threshold, are compatible with constitutional principles. The 'majority' award is, however, subject to the test of reasonableness and proportionality with reference to the size of the threshold allowing access to the award.
(The questions of constitutional legitimacy of Article 1(1)(f) of Law No. 52 of 2015, and of Articles 1 and 83(1)(5) and (6), (2), (3) and (4) of Presidential Decree No. 361 of 18 December 2011 are declared unfounded. P.R. No. 361 of 1957, as amended by Article 2, paragraphs 1 and 25, of Law No. 52 of 2015, censured by the Court of Genoa - with reference to Articles 1, paragraph 2, 3 and 48, paragraph 2, of the Constitution).