Forza Italia presses for quick passage of election reforms

(ANSA) - Rome, April 9 - Tension continued Wednesday over proposed election reforms, as the centre-right Forza Italia pushed hard for quick approval while the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) insisted it be reviewed by a Senate committee. The PD is maintaining that the Senate's Constitutional Affairs committee should scrutinize the measures, designed to make elections quicker and less expensive. FI founder ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi and Premier Matteo Renzi of the PD struck a deal on electoral reforms, which drew harsh criticism from some members of the premier's party because they disapproved of him working with Berlusconi. Since then, the reforms have been slowly moving through parliament and last month, passed the Lower House. The new bill sets bars for small parties to force them into alliances, limiting their veto power, and provides a 15% winner's bonus for a coalition that gets 37% to ensure it has a working majority. The bill became necessary after the previous system was declared unconstitutional in December and was blamed for the disarray that followed last year's general election.