,,,HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rhinemouse!!
rhinemouse!!Mar. 1st, 2010
Today's surprise
Mar. 1st, 2010 08:10 amSay, what is that astoundingly bright round thing in the sky this morning? I think I've seen it before, but it must have been a long time ago.
Only in Italy, honestly
Mar. 1st, 2010 12:16 pmThe largest party in Italy, PDL, is the result of the union of two supposed-to-be-conservative parties, AN and Berlusconi's FI. This union has not always gone down well with the membership and middle management, and in Rome, in particular, the two founding parties are for all practical purposes still in existence, each with its own membership and management.
The Italian constitution is moving towards a federal model, and the twenty Regions can already be said to be close to federal states. They have large powers (health, for instance, is a regional rather than national concern) and large budgets, and their governors are national figures.
The regional elections are coming. According to the law, each party that intends to take part must deposit its list of candidates at the electoral office within a given time.
Two representatives of PDL - one AN, one FI, of course - go to the office in question on the last possible day, having spent all the available time quarrelling over whose members to place where in the various lists. Once they are there, they step out again, to settle a last-minute difficulty over a name in the provincial (county) lists.
When they step back in, the office has closed.
As a result, the largest party in Italy will not contest the regional and provincial elections for Lazio - the region of Rome, the national capital.
The Italian constitution is moving towards a federal model, and the twenty Regions can already be said to be close to federal states. They have large powers (health, for instance, is a regional rather than national concern) and large budgets, and their governors are national figures.
The regional elections are coming. According to the law, each party that intends to take part must deposit its list of candidates at the electoral office within a given time.
Two representatives of PDL - one AN, one FI, of course - go to the office in question on the last possible day, having spent all the available time quarrelling over whose members to place where in the various lists. Once they are there, they step out again, to settle a last-minute difficulty over a name in the provincial (county) lists.
When they step back in, the office has closed.
As a result, the largest party in Italy will not contest the regional and provincial elections for Lazio - the region of Rome, the national capital.
