Last August 4, the final text of the report of the Parliamentary Subcommittee in charge of presenting proposals for the reform of the General Electoral Law was published. The proposed reforms do not affect the basic elements of the current electoral system, in particular, the way in which the deputies of the congress are elected.

This circumstance has motivated the rejection of those parties which are harmed by the application of the current system, namely: Izquierda Unida and, more recently, UPyD, which obtain a percentage of seats lower than the percentage of votes obtained. The two major parties are at the opposite status and, logically, for the sake of stability and governability, have no interest in modifying the system. Neither do the nationalist parties, whose seats are generally decisive in the formation of majorities, giving them a greater role than their percentage of votes reflects. All this despite the fact that the committee of State issued a report in which a series of reforms were suggested which, without the need to modify the constitutional framework , could contribute a little to improving the proportionality of our system: increasing the issue number of deputies to 400, reducing the initial minimum representation of each province from two to one deputy and replacing the current D'Hont formula. The proposed modifications cover a wide range of aspects such as technical improvements in the emigrant vote; the improvement of the open council system; the electoral census, to avoid convenience registrations or the introduction of mechanisms to neutralize the role of defectors in municipal motions of censure.

It is also foreseen that the voter himself, and not the president of the Table, will finally introduce the envelope in the ballot box, as well as a change in the Senate ballot. It also includes a recommendation to facilitate telematic voting for those parliamentarians who are unable to attend due to serious illness or maternity. Certainly relevant is the introduction, as a cause of supervening incompatibility, of those persons elected on candidacies presented by parties subsequently declared illegal by a final court ruling.

It also includes a battery of measures that seem to respond to the bad conscience of the parties, such as those that try to limit electoral expenses, the prohibition to carry out institutional advertising highlighting achievements, the prohibition to carry out electoral propaganda during the pre-campaign, or the one that tries to put a stop to one of the favorite practices of part of the political class , with the prohibition to carry out acts of inauguration of public works and services, limited to the duration of the electoral campaign.

The report, with a certain paternalistic air, maintains the prohibition to reproduce electoral polls during the five days prior to the voting, an absurd prohibition in an informatively globalized world.

In this line, one of the most controversial proposals is the obligation to respect the principles of neutrality, equality and proportionality imposed on private television channels during the electoral period in their information, interviews and debates.

core topic The electoral system is an aspect of the representative democracies in which, unfortunately, citizen participation is practically reduced to voting periodically in elections, and we will have to keep an eye on the parliamentary processing of the future bill.