Ex-Democratic Party (PD) chief
Pierluigi Bersani won't attend a meeting of the party's
executive later in the day because of a prior engagement,
sources said Monday.
The meeting is being held to thrash out a deal between
government and a rebel leftwing minority within the centre-left
party led by Premier Matteo Renzi over its flagship
Constitutional reform bill.
The PD rebels led by Bersani are opposed to Article 2 of
the bill that would revamp Italy's political machinery, turning
the Senate into a leaner assembly of local-government
representatives with limited lawmaking powers.
Article 2 currently stops the revamped upper house being
directly elected, and had been at the centre of negotiations
between the government and PD rebels in recent weeks.
The dissenters want Senators to be elected by the Italian
people, arguing the bill is undemocratic as it stands.
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