Simone De Ruosi is a member of Athlone IT Labour Youth 

What you have probably heard and read about the difficulty in forming a new Italian government is true. Italian elections have resulted in deadlock.  It is difficult to imagine how we will move on from this.

The centre-left coalition received just 0.3% ahead of Berlusconi’s party in the Parliament where we now have 345 out of 636 MPs.  However, the loss of high populated regions such as Lombardia (Milan), Campania (Naples), Veneto (Venice) or Sicily does resulted in us not reaching a majority in the Senate (126 MPs for us, 117 for Berlusconi, 54 for Grillo and 18 for Monti).

As we have a bicameral system, any proposal has to be approved by both houses of Parliament. The problem now is that it is unlikely that two blocs will reach agreement, as they have very different agendas, leading to the total stagnation of legislation through Parliament.

The outcome is partially due to the electoral law introduced by Berlusconi’s government in 2004, named porcellum (latin for “crap”) by the same people who wrote it. It does not have a ballot or a second round and elects MPs in a different way (national basis and regional basis) to the two houses of Parliament.

In political terms, a consistent failure of the centre-left coalition, led by Partito Democratico, is to maintain a lead over their opponents.  In November Partito Democratico had a lead of 15% ahead of any other competitor, just after the primaries. But unfortunately, as usually happens, we managed to lose any advantage during the electoral campaign. Language and communication were our weaknesses, against showmen such as Berlusconi and Grillo.

Berlusconi and his party seemed to be completely irrelevant after Monti took over last year, but there was yet again another remarkable resurrection. He is a television monster: he has been on every channel almost on a daily basis, promising the absurd (“I will give you a tax refund through the state or by myself”) and increasing his party’s popularity from 15% to 30%, reaching peaks of 35-38% in some important regions. People are ashamed to vote for him, and no one would publicly admit it, but he still receives a lot of support. I will never understand this, people just forget everything!

Movimento 5 Stelle, leaded by the comedian and blogger Beppe Grillo, is the third bloc that comes from these elections with support at 25%.   In many parts of Italy it topped the poll. This is a vote of protest against the ruling class but they are still a bet, as the program is vague and the MPs are very heterogenic in ideas and political background.

This election was a big failure for Mario Monti, who received a little below 10% through the list and does not account for almost anything in the houses of Parliament.

As I said, it is very hard now to predict what is going to happen, the President of Republic has a very hard job to do.

Pierluigi Bersani, the leader of centre-left coalition, will have the role of making the first proposals. He has already said that he will ask the houses of Parliament to support a government with a very simple agenda: political parties and costs reform, law against corruption and conflict of interest, a new electoral law and assistance to the increasing number of unemployed.

It is a clear signal to Beppe Grillo, who might converge on this program. He is our only possibility, as Berlusconi is not compatible with those issues.

I hope it will work, we all pray for Grillo’s sense of responsibility.

The solution of voting again immediately is not possible. The President of the Republic is the only person who can dissolve the houses and call for vote, but our actual President cannot because his term is almost over. Before returning to vote, the houses of Parliament will have to elect another President, which would take a lot of time with this Parliament configuration.

I guess in any case another election is likely in about a year, after a short government on that agenda or after a fight for the President election. The second possibility would be a disaster.

For the first time in my life I am very afraid for my country. On a hand we have institutions that are completely stagnant, on the other hand we have an electorate who demonstrated a total irrational and superficial vote. Both the two do not give hope for future.