„Many have blamed Italy's complicated, conflict-prone electoral system as the reason behind its inglorious status as the sole European economy whose per capita gross income has actually fallen since 1999. Its recent history has been marred by an unending political feud between parties that, having failed to obtain steady majorities, have resorted to horse-trading and corruption to gain support.
The new system aims to create more stable governments with higher majorities and with fewer political parties. To this end, the law provides for an electoral prize that is handed out to the party (or coalition) that obtains at least 37 percent of votes in the lower chamber of Parliament. Some critics have argued that this arbitrary figure seems tailor-made for Renzi's coalition government, polls giving it roughly the same percentage among voters.
Nevertheless, if no party reaches this threshold, the two most voted parties would then go to a run-off. While Italians will still cast their ballots for a list of candidates proposed by parties, the new law demands an equal number of male and female candidates in order to encourage political participation.