Italy PM asks Senate for new election laws News
Italy PM asks Senate for new election laws

[JURIST] Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi [personal website], who won a confidence vote [BBC report] in the Italian Senate Wednesday after losing a key vote on a foreign policy issue last week, has asked senators to strike down an unfavorable election law that was enacted [BBC report] by predecessor Silvio Berlusconi [BBC profile] prior to the contested Senate elections [JURIST report] of April 2006. Prodi opposes the Berlusconi election law because it grants Senate seats based on the proportion of the national vote won by each party, giving Prodi's Olive Tree Federation [party website, in Italian] a mere two-seat majority in the Senate.

Prodi is expected to easily survive an upcoming confidence vote in Italy's lower house, scheduled for later this week. Bloomberg has more.