Chamber of Deputies (Italy)

The Chamber of Deputies (Italian: Camera dei deputati) is the lower house of the bicameral Italian Parliament, with the upper house being the Senate of the Republic. Together, these two houses work to make laws for Italy.

The Chamber of Deputies has 400 seats. Most of these seats are filled by deputies elected from different areas in Italy, and some are filled by deputies elected from Italians living outside the country.

Members of the Chamber are called The Honourable (Italian: Onorevole). They meet in the historic Palazzo Montecitorio. This group helps make important decisions for Italy.

Location

The Chamber of Deputies meets in the Palazzo Montecitorio, a building in Rome. They have met there since 1871. Before that, they met in Turin and then in Florence. During World War II, a different group met there for a short time.

Normal operation

The Chamber of Deputies is made up of all its members meeting together at a place called Montecitorio. They can also watch government meetings and ministers if they need to. Sometimes, the government must come to these sessions when asked.

The Chamber of Deputies, like the Senate, normally works for five years. But there are two special cases when it can keep working longer:

• If the current term ends, members keep working until the new group meets for the first time.
• The term can also be extended if there is a war.

Electoral system

Main article: Italian electoral law of 2017

The electoral system for choosing members of the Chamber of Deputies uses a mixed method. About 37% of the seats are decided by a simple voting system where the candidate with the most votes wins. The other 63% are decided by a system that shares seats based on how many votes each party gets.

The 400 seats in the Chamber of Deputies are filled like this:

• 147 seats are from single-member areas, where the candidate with the most votes wins.
• 245 seats come from larger areas, shared among parties based on their overall vote share in the country.
• 8 seats are for Italian citizens living outside of Italy, chosen in the same way as the larger areas.

Each voter has a few ways to cast their vote, which can support both a local candidate and the party lists that back them. The election must happen within 70 days after the Chamber is dissolved, and the new members must meet within 20 days of the election.

President

Main article: List of presidents of the Chamber of Deputies (Italy)

The President of the Chamber of Deputies is like the speaker of the house. They are chosen at the first meeting after an election. Until a new president is chosen, the vice president from the last group of lawmakers takes on this role. If two people were elected at the same time, the older one becomes the president.

The President also leads when both parts of the Italian Parliament meet together to vote. Right now, Lorenzo Fontana is the current president of the Chamber of Deputies.

Membership

Main article: List of members of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy, 2022–present

The Chamber of Deputies has 400 members. They were elected in 2022.

Reform proposals

In 2019, Italy’s parliament changed the rules to make the Chamber of Deputies smaller. The number of seats went from 630 to 400. People voted for this change in a special vote in 2020. The first time the Chamber of Deputies met with only 400 members was during the 19th Legislature.

Historical composition

1861–1924

The Chamber of Deputies started in Italy’s government in 1861. From then until 1924, the number of seats and how members were chosen changed often. During this time, Italy made many new rules and ways to pick leaders.

Since 1945

After World War II in 1945, the Chamber of Deputies stayed as part of Italy’s Parliament. Today, it has 400 seats. Most of these seats—392—are filled by people voting in Italy. The other 8 seats are for Italian citizens living outside the country, so their voices can be heard too.

Predecessors

The Chamber of Deputies in Italy has had many forms over time. It started as the Chamber of Deputies (Kingdom of Sardinia) from March 4, 1848, to March 17, 1861. Then it became the Chamber of Deputies (Kingdom of Italy) from March 17, 1861, to March 23, 1939. Later, it was called the Chamber of Fasces and Corporations from March 23, 1939, to August 2, 1943. After this, it was known as the National Council (Italy) from September 25, 1945, to June 2, 1946, and finally the Constituent Assembly of Italy from June 2, 1946, to January 31, 1948.