Italian Parliament

Italian Parliament Parlamento Italiano
Type
Type	Bicameral
Houses	Senate of the Republic Chamber of Deputies
Leadership
President of the Senate	Pietro Grasso (PD) Since 2013
President of the Chamber of Deputies	Laura Boldrini (SEL) Since 2013
Structure
Seats	950 320 senators (315 elected + 5 for life) 630 deputies
Senate of the Republic political groups	List Government (162)      PD 114      AP 29      AUT 19 Government support (18)      ALA 18 Opposition Parties (140)      FI 42      M5S 35      GAL 14      LN 12      CR 10      Mixed Group 28
Chamber of Deputies political groups	List Government (385)      PD 303      AP 30      CI 17      SC–ALA 16      Demo.S–CD 13      Mixed Group 6 Opposition Parties (245)      M5S 91      FI 50      SI 31      LN 19      FdI 10      Mixed Group 44
Elections
Senate of the Republic last election	24–25 February 2013
Chamber of Deputies last election	24–25 February 2013
Meeting place
Chamber of Deputies—Palazzo Montecitorio Senate of the Republic—Palazzo Madama
Website
http://www.parlamento.it

The Italian Parliament (Italian: Parlamento Italiano) is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. The Parliament is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1848-1861) and the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946). It is a bicameral legislature with 945 elected members and a small number of unelected members (parlamentari). It is composed of the Chamber of Deputies, with 630 members (deputati) elected on a national basis, and the Senate of the Republic, with 315 members (senatori) elected on a regional basis, plus a small number (currently 5) of senators for life (senatori a vita), either appointed or ex officio. The two houses are independent from one another and never meet jointly except under circumstances specified by the Constitution.

By the Republican Constitution of 1948, the two houses of the Italian Parliament possess the same powers: this particular form of parliamentary democracy (so-called perfect bicameralism) has been coded in the current form since the adoption of the Albertine Statute and resurged after the dismissal of the fascist dictatorship of the 1920s and 1930s during World War II.

Because the President of the Senate is acting Head of State in the absence of the President of the Republic, the President of the Senate and the Vice-Presidents of the Senate have a higher position than their respective counterparts of the Chamber of Deputies in the Italian order of precedence. On the other hand, no distinction is made between deputies and senators.

The Chamber of Deputies has 630 elected members, while the Senate has 315 elected members. The number of deputies and senators was fixed by a constitutional amendment in 1963: in its original text, the Constitution provided for a variable number of Members of Parliament depending on the population. The Senate of the Republic also includes a small number of unelected members (senators for life). There are two categories of senators for life. Former Presidents of the Republic are senators for life by law, unless they renounce this privilege. Furthermore, Presidents of the Republic can appoint up to five Italian citizens as senators for life "for outstanding merits in the social, scientific, artistic or literary field".