The outspoken Elena Bonetti to her colleagues: “Let’s not vote for preferences – it’s an obscenity”

“I reiterate my appeal to all female MPs, including those in the majority, to consider the responsibility we are exercising, because pushing through this amendment would mean renouncing the battles that the centre-right itself has championed over the years.” Elena Bonetti, former Minister for Equal Opportunities in the Draghi government, told Il Foglio. The Azione MP discusses the new electoral law, preferential votes and gender issues. And she is clear: “If the agreement within the centre-right were to be confirmed, we would be faced with an agreement that works against women, designed to penalise them.” On Wednesday, the negotiators for the new electoral bill met in Via della Scrofa and finalised the new agreement ahead of the Senate vote.

The agreement provides for the return of preferential voting with fixed-order party lists. Regarding gender balance, the change is that the 60-40 rule no longer applies to fixed-order candidates on party lists and will remain only in the ‘long list’ for the majority bonus. “It’s a disgrace,” says Bonetti. According to the former minister, the mechanism would not guarantee a genuine balance in the safest seats: “By removing a genuine gender requirement for fixed-position list leaders, there is a risk that some parties will elect only male candidates to safe seats. The effect on the number of women elected to Parliament would be devastating.” The former Minister for Equal Opportunities is not the only one to think so. Over the past few days, several female representatives from centre-right parties have expressed private disapproval of the idea. Behind closed doors, of course.

And, indeed, as is well known, one of the reasons behind the majority’s own goal in the Chamber of Deputies – when the amendment on preferential votes was defeated by the centre-right by a single vote – was precisely the issue of gender. Straight talk: “Rather than calling them that, I would speak of women, just as I would of men, who have had the courage to take on the responsibility that our role demands. If you remove gender balance from this electoral law, you are not promoting equal opportunities and you are acting against the Constitution.”

On the occasion of the first vote, the president of Azione had launched an appeal against the introduction of preferential voting. The appeal was signed by female MPs and senators from across the political spectrum, including women from the centre-right. Among them were Debora Bergamini, Cristina Rossello, Catia Polidori, Silvana Comaroli and Isabella De Monte – mainly from the Lega and Forza Italia. It will now be up to the female members of the Senate – where there is no secret ballot – to support an amendment that would penalise them. The alternative is to bring down the government.

According to Bonetti, “a vote in favour of the amendment would betray the commitment and tradition that women, including those on the centre-right, have upheld over the years”. She explains her view: “The battles for equal opportunities in our country have been fought by women from all parties, from the Communist Party to the Christian Democrats to the Socialist Party. They have fought them together, often having to contend with the complete dominance of male power. Alongside these women’s struggles, there have been enlightened men who enshrined the principle of gender equality in our Constitution.”

This is another reason why the former minister believes that the text of the electoral law contains elements that are unconstitutional: “Article 51 states that the Republic promotes equal opportunities between men and women, including in elected office”, and the electoral law “must encourage gender equality”, not “leave it to the discretion of individual parties”.

For this reason, Bonetti’s appeal takes on a ‘cross-party’ character. The former minister says: “The insistence on resubmitting an amendment that is essentially the same as the one that was rejected masks the desire of a male-dominated power structure within the parties, which seeks only to perpetuate itself.” Support for the new text also came from the leader of the Forza Italia group in the Senate, Stefania Craxi (and therefore from Marina Berlusconi): “All the more reason, I believe, that the duty of us women elected to public office is not so much to preserve our own space, but to take on the responsibility of fighting against this obscenity. We must ensure that other women can gain access to public office.”

Bonetti appeals to the entire parliamentary spectrum and issues a warning: “We are facing a very dangerous and delicate juncture for our democracy. If we do not want Italy to take a step backwards in terms of the equality we have inherited, this amendment must not be passed.” Responsibility over demagoguery.