ITALIAN ELECTIONS: CAUSE FOR WORRY!

The lower Chamber of Deputies (Camera dei deputati) counts 630 seats while the upper Chamber  the Senate (Senato della Repubblica) counts 315 seats (+ 4 named for life). Seats in both chambers are based on proportional representation within the respect of certain limits in order to encourage parties to form coalitions. 

The coalition with the most votes is awarded to-up seats in the Chamber of Deputies which guarantees 340 of the 630 seats . The 'majority prize' in the Senate follows the same rules except that it is based on a regional basis, which makes it more difficult for a coalition to have a majority of seats in both chambers.

Regardless of who wins, Italy's long economic decline is likely to continue because the next government won't be strong enough to pursue the tough reforms needed to make the Italian economy competitive again.

Italian businessmen complain of three main obstacles: stifling bureaucracy, labour laws which offers workers so much protection that they encourage slack performance, and a dysfunctional court system which makes it hard to enforce contracts and collect debts.