When Italians start voting on 24–25 February 2013, they will have no less than 169 parties to choose from, perhaps a few more! One of the parties in the running is the Bunga Bunga Movement.
Yesterday, the party logos, actually logos for electoral lists, numbering a grand total of 219, were approved or excluded by Italy’s special logo approval commission or whatever it calls itself.
While some copycat party list logos were not approved, others, such as that of the Bunga Bunga Movement (click to see what the logo looks like), passed muster which means they can earn votes.
Though unlikely, it is possible that Italy could end up being run by the Bunga Bunga Movement. At least Berlusconi would be happy!
Deceptive Lega Nord Logo
A few of the logos were judged to be deceptive, such as one presented by Italy’s Legal Nord party which had the name of Italy’s former finance minister Giulio Tremonti written like this: TreMonti. The commission overseeing the approval of the logos probably concluded that Italy’s voters might confuse TreMonti with that of Monti - the surname of almost ex-prime minister of Italy, Mario Monti who is standing for election.
The Lega Nord people have around 48 hours to sort out their deceptive logo, as do one or two other parties. It is highly likely that the already staggering total of parties will exceed 170!
Record Time?
Now I do not know, but this huge number of parties, 169 at least, remember, aside from being totally and utterly confusing for voters, may well qualify for an entry in the Guinness Book of Records!
The other worrying issue is that Italy’s more serious parties may well lose votes to oddities such as the Bunga Bunga party. This may well mean that whichever party does manage to scrape together enough votes may not have all they need to create a working majority. Italy as a result risks ending up with yet another unstable, ineffective, government and right slap bang in the middle of a huge economic crisis too. Not good.
Italians attempting to choose who to vote for, and they do not have much time, will have around 170 web sites to visit to understand just who the candidates are, what their parties are promising and whether they are worth voting for. Maybe disgruntled Italians will all opt to vote for the Bunga Bunga Movement! We’ll see.
If Bunga Bunga Prevails, Italians Know Who to Blame
Incidentally, during Mario Monti’s technocratic reign, both Monti and Italy’s President Napolitano pushed for reforms to Italy’s weird and not so wonderful electoral system. Despite repeated requests, Italy’s major political parties ignored the calls for reform, so, if Italy does end up in the hands of the Bunga Bunga Movement, Italians will know who to blame!
Only in Italy!
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