Italy votes for new constitution

If people vote "yes", there will be a change to Italy's bicameral parliament of two chambers, the Chamber of Deputies and the senate. They currently have equal powers and are filled with directly elected lawmakers.
If the reform moves forward, the senate would lose much of its power. Instead of the current 315 senators, there will be 100, and rather than being directly elected, they will be selected by regional assemblies.

The reform would dissolve Italy's 110 provinces, Italy's second-level administrative divisions - considered expensive and redundant - while municipalities, metropolitan cities and regions would remain.
The central government would take back some of the prerogatives of the regions, like managing transport and infrastructure and regulating the supply of key energy resources.

Carlo Fusaro, a prominent constitutionalist, said that, if approved, government institutions will become more efficient, legislative procedures will be streamlined and the regions will be given better representation in parliament.
As a result, the country's governability will improve, and future governments will be able to implement those economic reforms that are essential to restructure the country's battered economy.
"Italy has stopped growing; its productivity is one of the lowest in Europe and the country is highly indebted. We badly need structural and quality reforms within reasonable timeframes," he told Al Jazeera. "Italy is functioning on emergency mode with a weak government forced to act by decrees … Too many veto-players jeopardise policymaking at a time when the country needs both efficient institutions and governability."
The reform would put an end to Italy's unique anomaly of a "doubler senate", a chamber that has the same functions as the Chamber of Deputies, and often vetoes or slows down the approval of key legislation.
Today tens of legislative proposals passed by the lower chamber wait to be approved by the Senate; some take more than two years.
Supporters of the reform say such concerns are baseless.

"I can hardly see how a strong executive can be a problem in a country that had 63 governments in 70 years," said Guido Crainz, a political scientist teaching history at Teramo University, who has published extensively on the subject. 
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/12/italy-votes-constitution-political-turmoil-161203103657041.html