The Italian Vote Abroad: The Analysis Goes On

Saturday, October 5th. The University of New York at Stony Brook held a conference entitled: “Altreitalie: cittadinanza e diritto di voto,” organized by the Center for Italian Studies.


The meeting was an encounter between scholars, journalists and top governmental officers. Among the guests at the conference were Professor Luigi Troiani from Università Pontificia San Tommaso d’Aquino di Roma; Giovanni Pastrello, National Secretary Fai-Cisl; Stefano Vaccara, America Oggi journalist; Francesco Maria Talò, Italian Consul General in New York; and Professor Marcello Saija, Università degli Studi di Messina. The Italian Minister of Justice, Clemente Mastella, who was a guest at the New York Columbus Day parade, was also present.


The Italian vote abroad, the dual citizenship issue, and the role of Italians abroad within Italian politics are among the issues still in need of wide-range analysis, according to the Italian Consul General.


Minister Mastella was warmly welcomed by many “paesani” of the Italian/American community. Mario Mignone, director of the Center for Italian Studies, introduced Mr. Mastella to the audience and stressed the importance of the Italian tenure at Stony Brook, which is financed by the community.


Mr. Mastella spoke about the political situation in Italy and relations with Italians abroad. He declared his support for a simplification of attaining dual citizenship, and also expressed admiration for the Comites network. He also touched upon the crisis of Italian politics. He bluntly stated, “Italian parties are weak, the system is in gridlock; we are not able to meet our citizen’s requests.

We need a strong Prime Minister with strong attributes, directly elected by the people” – referring to institutional reforms currently being discussed in Italy.


There were also critical voices regarding how the Italian vote abroad was organized. Professor Rocco Caporale of St. John’s University, for instance, presented data indicating that 400,00 people were notable to vote because they never received their ballots. “The Government denied 400,000 citizens the right to vote, which means that the legality of the whole election can be in doubt.”


The conference once again demonstrated the widespread interest that surrounds the issue of the Italian vote abroad. The Stony Brook symposium was in fact the second of its kind to be organized in New York in less than six months; in May this year the same subject came under scrutiny at a conference held at the J. D. Calandra Italian American Institute on the initiative of its Dean, Professor A. J. Tamburri.


For those interested in learning more about the 2006 Italian election in the U.S. we have collected a series of informative materials in three special issues of i-Italy (in Italian):


Votare all’estero. Parte 1: I candidati
(http://www.i-italy.org/specials/politics/votare-allestero-parte-1-i-candidati)


Votare all’estero. Parte 2: La campagna
(http://www.i-italy.org/specials/politics/votare-allestero-parte-2-la-campagna)


Votare all’estero. Parte 3: L’analisi
(http://www.i-italy.org/specials/politics/votare-allestero-parte-3-lanalisi