Italian Politics at a Standstill After Election Ends in Stalemate
Credit:CiuPix/flickrThe Italian election has
reignited anxiety across Europe after the left-leaning bloc led by
Pier Luigi Bersani took the Chamber of Deputies but failed to take
the Senate. With Italian politics at a stalemate European
policymakers were quick to call upon Italian officials to honor
commitments to reform.
From the BBC:
European Commission spokesman Olivier Bailly said the EU expected Italy to "honour its commitments" on debt and deficit reduction, and other structural reform.
"We clearly hear the message of concern expressed by Italian citizens," he said at a news conference.
"The Commission has full confidence in Italian democracy and... will work closely with the future government towards the relaunch of growth and job creation in Italy."
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, meanwhile, urged Italy to continue its reforms, and called for a government to be formed "as quickly as possible".French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said the result "creates problems" but would not undermine the European single currency.But his Spanish counterpart there was "extreme concern" about the financial consequences.
It is understandable that the markets and politicians are concerned about the situation in Italy, where a political movement started by comedian Beppe Grillo now has 54 seats in the Senate and 108 seats in the House of Deputies, an especially impressive result considering that only three people with a blog staffed his campaign. This so-called “Grillo Five Star Movement” has taken more seats than the centrists of the current prime minister, Mario Monti.
If a government cannot be formed then new elections could be held. The results of this election indicate that while most Italians do not want Monti’s policies they are conflicted about what polices are best for the eurozone’s third largest economy. Whether a government can be formed will depend on how successful Bersani is in forming a coalition that can take the Senate, which he cannot do even with the support of Mario Monti’s bloc.
Illustration of the results so far from the BBC below:
Credit: BBC
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I say restore the republic. The Roman Republic.
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it's been all downhill since Caligula
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Republic, I said.
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Yes, and I ignored that.
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Very well, I double-dog ignore you.
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I hope this doesn't disrupt Italy main export, ridiculous sex scandals.
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That's embedded in the Italian earth--nothing can disrupt it.
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bunga bunga
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Gunga galunga. . .gunga, gunga-lagunga.
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Cicciolina?
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Alessandra Mussolini?
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John Coctostan.
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With Berlusconi back on the scene, I don't think there is anything to worry about on the ridiculous sex scandal front.
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Don't blame me, I voted "Nessuno".
(If my ballot made it back in time, that is)
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Zero Hedge on Italy.
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I know every comments board has their own in-jokes, but is this one or just lunatic ravings?
TheFourthStooge-ing
That is what Chinese citizenism 'AnAnonymists' do: they blame something just to eliminate competition.
'AnAnonymist' comments usually start by denouncing propaganda, just to make room for their own propaganda.
Chinese citizenism nature, which is eternal, renders impossible self indiction despite all evidences. -
Chinese citizenism nature, which is eternal, renders impossible self indiction despite all evidences.
I'm gonna go with lunatic ravings. That's utterly unintelligible (or someone brewed decaf at work this morning, which is highly improbable)
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It's kind of poetic. The AnAnonmymist posts makes little sense either. Maybe TheFourthStooge-ing is fighting incoherence with inspired lunacy.
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I also think Zero Hedge attracts an awful lot of out of their mind crazy motherfuckers. I mean, look at this:
"The Euro was the Rothschild 'test tube baby' for a New World Order [starting with a single currency]..."
You can almost hear the tinfoil hats wafting in the breeze.
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Any time the phrase "Moloch worshiping frat-boys" is thrown around, go get the popcorn.
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From what I can tell, the poster 'AnAnonymists' is Chinese and always comes on to talk about how evil America is. Every time he talks about America he puts it in scare quotes. So I think this guy is mocking him.
I'm not entirely sure though. It confused me too.
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ZeroHedge recently suffered an out break of White Indian. I'm glad to see that seems to have been cleared up.
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Much like your recent outbreak of crabs. I assume that new cream worked?
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It turned out to be only one crab. Hermit. I'm not sure how he got down there. Perhaps black magic or super-science. He's safely stored in an aquarium now, far from the prying eyes and braying faceholes of the peanut munching crowds.
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You've given birth to Cthulu. Why does this not surprise me?
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Were you lasering like Epi it would've never been a problem.
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No mere beam of collimated light can smooth the beastly hide of SugarFree.
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You could at least try. Get a Brazilian or something.
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The smoothest hairless chest of the gay stripper is something I leave to you.
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It's honest work! Unlike your parasitical archivist job!
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Hence the hermit crab.
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Where are you finding '90s gay strippers in this day and age?
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With your mom?
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That doesn't surprise me. She froths at the mouth about the gay agenda, but she ends up hanging out with flamboyant gay men a lot.
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Hey, homophobic women need their hair cut too.
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See that would be reasonable; my mom did shots with a group of gay men in a London ER waiting room while there on vacation. Or she'll proudly show pictures of her gay coworkers in drag on vacation. Between that and my dad getting cruised whenever he goes out jogging, I think my parents are better at meeting gay men than I am.
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OT: The biggest ass in Brazil.
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Before I even clicked the link, I knew the ass in question was either the Watermelon Woman, or Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
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Well played, sir.
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The *self-proclaimed* BAIB.
Seriously, that's *nothing*.
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It's the biggest on a woman you might want to actually see naked.
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*** moves goalposts back ***
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Italian Politics at a Standstill After Election Ends in Stalemate
Those lucky bastards. Why can't our government shut down and stop passing liberty-restricting bullshit?
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No comedian has been brave enough to rise to our defense.
I'm hoping the lolgeneration will be more receptive to absurdist politics in the future. Taking things so seriously will be the death of us all.
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That's an excellent approach, SF -- LAUGH the can down the road!
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The politics of seriousness has failed, it's time to give humor a chance. That Obama wasn't drowned out by laughter at the State of the Union shows how far were are from sanity as a people.
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Universal preschool is the path to prosperity. How can you not see that?
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I see nothing.
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Joker 2016!
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You mean Biden/Clinton 2016, right?
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Penn Gillette should start a political party.
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Be careful what you wish for, or we'll be dealing with the fallout from the Stewart/Colbert administration for quite some time.
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I said "humor" should make a comeback, not shilling disguised as cheap mugging for the camera.
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or we'll be dealing with the fallout from the Stewart/Colbert administration for quite some time.
Aren't we already?
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Tom Green / Norm MacDonald 2016!
oh wait Tom Green can't be President
Norm MacDonald?
nope.Crap. Too bad there are no funny Americans.
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Uh...
"Hello, fellow American. This you should vote me. I leave power. Good. Thank you. Thank you. If you vote me, I am hot. What? Taxes. They'll be lower, son. The democratic vote for me is the right thing to do, Philadelphia. So do."
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No comedian has been brave enough to rise to our defense.
You forgot Al Franken.
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Sorry, he meant funny comedians.
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Due to the major differences between the two winning parties on a community and social-economic level, government negotiations and formation took a total of 541 days, breaking the world government formation record of 249 days, previously set by Iraq in 2010.
I teased a Belgian acquaintance about the fact that they couldn't form a government. He seemed genuinely embarrassed, and was horrified that I thought it was awesome he didn't have a functioning government. He said "Well we still have a king!"
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Italian lawyer Alfonso Luigi Marra has requested that the Public Prosecutor of Rome investigate the secretive Bilderberg Group for criminal activity, questioning whether the elitist organization’s 2011 meeting in Switzerland led to the selection of Mario Monti as Prime Minister of Italy.
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an especially impressive result considering that only three people with a blog staffed his campaign
Libertarians and other minor parties should take note of the value of the parliamentary system, as opposed to our winner-take-all or top-two systems.
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Yeah, take a look at those lower chamber results. Italy guarantees that the party that gets a plurality automatically gets bumped up to 54% of the seats at a minimum. That's why a tiny win in vote percentage became a huge number of seats.
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It's not the parliamentary system that does this, it's the multiple representative system. The UK and Canada have a parliamentary system but allocate representatives the same way we do, so they have the same winner-take-all system.
Multiple representative systems have their own problems.
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You mean proportional representation. "Multiple representative" sounds like multimember districts, which often are on a winner-take-all system in the US and elsewhere.
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The UK and Canada have a parliamentary system but allocate representatives the same way we do, so they have the same winner-take-all system.
I actually did not know that. Noted.
Multiple representative systems have their own problems.
Of course they do. Are they really so much worse than ours?
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Well, it's been 68 years since the end of WWII, and Italy has had nearly as many governments. You tell me?