Meloni wants direct election of premier before next vote

(ANSA) - ROME, JAN 9 - Premier Giorgia Meloni said Thursday that she hopes her government's draft reform to introduce the direction election of the prime minister will be in place before Italy's next general election, scheduled to take place in 2027.
    "I would like to get at the next elections with the premiership reform approved and an electoral law tailored to it," she told a news conference.
    Under the current system in Italy, parties engage in government-formation talks after a general election and then the coalition that forms a ruling majority in parliament agrees on a figure to propose to the President of the Republic to become premier.
    That figure is not necessarily one of the politicians given by the parties as their premier candidate during the election campaign.
    Meloni says the proposed reform to let Italians choose their premiers directly will lead to stronger and more stable governments in a country which has long been dogged by unstable revolving door administrations.
    She has described the plan as the "mother of all reforms".
    (ANSA).