Following
the new regulations introduced by the Chamber of Deputies speaker Gianfranco
Fini, all parliamentary votes will now be executed using a new fingerprinting
system. Aimed at ensuring that Italian members of parliament (MPs) do their own
voting, the new system is intended to curb ‘slacking’ by MPs, who often send
their assistants to vote on their behalf.
In exchange
for being present at voting sessions, MPs will get longer coffee and lunch
breaks. Breaks will total an hour a day and two hours on Wednesdays. The new rules
go into effect on March 9.
Fini
also announced that parliamentary sessions of the Chamber of Deputies will soon
be available on the popular Internet platform YouTube as an effort to increase
transparency and an attempt to bring Italian youth closer to state institutions
and politics.
