So, in case you haven't heard yet, the Italian government fell last Thursday. Premier Romano Prodi resigned after the senate voted against him in a confidence vote. This appartently is not a huge deal, and actually happens every few years. One of the parties is elected every 7 years (I think), but can be voted out at anytime, which means no partry ever actually lasts 7 years. Christina told me Italy will probably have an election in April, and until then I guess we have a caretaker government of some sort. It was strange when someone told me the government fell then immediately started talking about what we should have for lunch. Anyway, I'm not too worried about it.
But Italian politics are very colorful. During the debate before voting out Prodi, "The fiery session ... included one senator being spat on, fainting and being carried out on a stretcher."(cnn) On Saturday I was in Padova (Padua) and already party supporters were in the streets celebrating with champagne and campaigning for the probable election. Someone even came around to all the houses around mine giving out an extreme communist newspaper, which Christina said takes a lot of courage these days in Italy.
I'll tell you about Padova soon. It was quite the bustling town.
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2 comments:
that's kind of exciting. my understaqnding is that there are so many different political parties in italy that it can be hard to get anything done?
i haven't been in st louis forever cause of being in spain and my parents moving to connecticut, but i'll definitely find some time to visit this summer. it's getting harder and harder for everyone to be there at the same time, tho.. ah, growing up
I wish we had more spitting and faiting on the Senate floor . . .
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