RAI

Italian election goes sotto voce

Italy will be holding regional elections on March 28, so you’d think that, like in other Western democracies, political journalists would be at their busiest and the TV schedules dominated by debates on the most pertinent issues of the elections.

Well, no. Quite the opposite.

The government has pushed through rules which essentially make it impossible to hold a political discussion on TV in the month leading up to the election.

The new rules stipulate that if ONE candidate is interviewed or mentioned, representatives of ALL other opposing parties have to be present as well.

Bear in mind the plethora of parties usually contesting italian elections (30 and counting) and you’d have a town-hall style debate where the people on stage would outnumber the audience.