4 ms·

Can you please help me remember exactly when the Italians voted in elections for Mario Monti as prime minister? I just can't recall that!

• sofixa 4y ago
  You probably know this, but Italians don't vote for a PM directly, they vote for parliament and president. Monti was invited by the elected president to form a government, and confirmed by the elected parliament, after the previous PM resigned.
• DocTomoe 4y ago
  In most European countries - and so in Italy, you don't vote for a person, you vote for a party. This is usually a good idea, but can lead to unintended side-effects (See: United Kingdom). Monti was supported by both democratically-elected Houses of Parliament, otherwise Napolitano would not have given him the task of creating a government.
  • sofixa 4y ago
    > This is usually a good idea, but can lead to unintended side-effects (See: United Kingdom). In the UK you very much vote for a person, using the arcane first past the post system. People usually vote based on party allegiance, but at the circonscription level you cast a vote for the one winner, resulting in massive disenfranchisement.
    • iudqnolq 4y ago
      > In the UK you very much vote for a person We're talking about the PM here. You vote for a person who then votes on the PM, so it's an indirect system. > using the arcane first past the post system. FPTP sucks, but I've never heard it called arcane before. It's arguably the default normal way to vote for anything.