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In this episode, we catch up with some renovations happening at the villa and Paul’s adventure in local small town Italian politics.
Topics we cover:
• How we added three new bathrooms upstairs
• How we saved a lot of time and money by using existing sewer pipes instead of adding in new ones and new construction to our first floor
• How Paul loves using Farrow & Ball paints
• Paul’s explanation between dyes and pigments
• Impressionist paintings
• One villa guest who stayed with us, Natvar Bhavsar who used pigments in his painting
• Paul’s adventure in politics
• Three strange rules (strange to us) that exist in Italian elections
• First off there were 290 candidates for 17 city council seats
• One reason is each of the parties, of which there are many, they have to nominate a certain number of people in order to be considered a “list” or a “party”
• All these parties then form coalitions, there were three this election nominating three men for mayor
• The next rule that was strange was the fact that you have two votes for city council, and if you want to use both votes, one has to be for a man and one for a woman
• While understanding the thinking behind this, it seems like a strange law
• In a national election, you are voting for a party, not for a person
• In Italy, people always lament about how people here get jobs not so much based on merit, but on who they know, etc.
• However, when it comes to politics, most people don’t seem to be voting based on merits, but on the fact they are voting for their cousin, or their brother-in-law, or their neighbor, etc.
• The election outcome
• Why the one left wing coalition is not throwing his support behind the other left-wing coalition
• What it will take for Paul’s party to win in the runoff election
• Paul’s speech during the election
• Steven’s surprise in the passion and dedication people showed for a small town election, holding debates and getting very fired up
• How some of the people during the debates were spitting on the other candidates
• How the whole town almost shuts down a few days before the election
• There is a 48 media blackout before the election
• What the incumbents did to win the election
• The results of the election for Paul
• How because there are so many candidates running, a guy who got 2% of the vote got elected to city council
• Why this seems so confusing for us coming from a two party system
• NOTE/UPDATE: Paul’s party did not win in the runoff election
• Why Paul decided to run
• How Paul uses Facebook to influence the government here
Some more about Italian politics
• Italy is run through a Parliamentary Republic with a multi-party system.
• Italy has been a Parliamentary Republic since June 2, 1946 when the monarchy was abolished
• Executive power is held by the Council of Ministers which is led by a Prime Minister
• Legislative power is held by two house of parliament primarily, and secondarily by the Council of Ministers which can introduce bills and holds the majority of the parliament
• The judiciary is independent of the executive and legislative and headed by the High Council of the Judiciary
Paul’s Speech:
This is by far THE BEST explanation of Italisn elections I have ever read ! Steven, you are brilliant. I really appreciate this! Tell Paul his speech was wonderful…from the heart and true:)
Thanks so much, Dolores!
Grazie!
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