Government System of Italy

Background
Elections
In June 1946, the Italian people had voted to
abolish the Monarchy and the country had
then become a Democratic Republic. Italy is
controlled by a president who appoints Prime
Minister. The country is divided into 20
different regions for administrative purposes.

MARCH 2015
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For the Chamber of Deputies, citizens over 18-yearsold can vote. And for the Senate, the age limit is 25years-old to vote. Voters cast two ballots for the
regional elections, and voters cast one vote for
provincial elections.

The Parliament
The Prime Minister
The Prime Minister leads the Council of Ministers,
which is where the Executive power rests. The
Legislative power rests primarily with the two
houses of Parliament, and secondarily with the
Council of Ministers (Understanding Italy, 2015).
The official residence of the Prime Minister is at the
Palazzo Chigi.

The Judiciary is independent of the parliament.

It is made up of 945 elected members. The
parliament consists of two assemblies, which
are the Senate of the Republic (315 members)
and the Chamber of Deputies (630 members).
The most important function is ordinary
legislation, and the bills must be approves by
both houses before they become law.

The Legal System

The Italian judicial system consists of a series of
courts and a body of judges who are civil
servants. The judicial system is unified, every
court being part of the national network (Legal
System, 2015). And the highest court is the
Supreme Court of Appeal.

Matteo Renzi Prime

Minister since 2014

The President

Referenda
It is an extremely important feature that referenda must be held
for the Italian Constitution (Government in Italy, 2015).

The President is the head of state and is independent of all branches of

government. As the head of state, the President of the Republic represents the
unity of the nation and had taken over many of the duties previously
undertaken by the monarchy (Understanding Italy, 2015). The President is
elected for a seven-year term. And from history, no president had ever served
more than two terms. The official residence of the President of the Republic is
at the Palazzo del Quirinale.
His duties are:
Appoint the Prime Minister
Promulgate laws and decrees
Authorize the presentation of government bills in parliament
And with parliamentary authorization, ratify treaties and declare war

Sergio Mattarella
President elected in 2015