Deputy Premier and Transport Minister
Matteo Salvini's League party on Thursday withdrew a proposal
that would have removed the limit on the mayors of towns and
cities with more than 15,000 inhabitants serving no more than
two terms.
But Salvini said the League was pressing ahead with its bid to
remove the two-term limit for regional governors.
The issue has reportedly caused tension within Premier Giorgia
Meloni's ruling coalition.
Meloni's right-wing Brothers of Italy (FDI) and the other main
alliance partner, the centre-right Forza Italia of Foreign
Minister Antonio Tajani, have both said they are against
scrapping the two-term limit.
Several governors face having to step down the next time their
regions hold elections unless the limit is removed.
These include the League's popular Veneto Govenor Luca Zaia.
Zaia has been in charge of the region since 2010 and is already
on this third term.
He was able to stand again in 2020 because Veneto did not
incorporate the national law setting the two-term limit into its
regional election law until 2012.
This meant that, given as the measure cannot be applied
retroactively, Zaia's first term did not count in this regard.
Meloni is reported to be against dropping the two-term limit
because she wants more regions in the hands of representatives
of her FdI in order to reflect the fact that it has become the
driving force of the right/centre-right alliance.
The Senate's constitutional affairs committee, meanwhile,
approved a proposal to allow university students to vote in
June's European elections in the cities where they study if that
is not their home town.
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