Orizzonti di tecnica elettorale: problemi superati, irrisolti ed emersi alla luce della sentenza n. 35 del 2017

The judgement no. 35/2017 of the Italian Constitutional Court decided on Law n. 52/2015, that rules the election of the Chamber of Deputies: it declared the unconstitutionality of the second round of vote – provided by Law no. 52 – and annulled the possibility for a candidate to choose the constituency where to be elected, in case of successful “multiple candidacy”. This paper analyzes the content and the consequences of the decision no. 35, reading it in conjunction with the judgement no. 1/2014 of the same Court, that had provided other fundamental criteria about legislative election law. The most recent decision has not solved all the problems related to the election law: at this moment the Chamber and the Senate would be elected with two different, inconsistent systems, under many aspects, even if they are the result of those constitutional judgements. In these weeks the Parliament is discussing a new election law, with some different options; however, it has to take into account some important instructions and limits stated by the Constitutional Court in these last years (about majority bonus, second ballot, thresholds, free vote, preferences and “blocked lists”), in order to avoid new declarations of unconstitutionality.