With a swift decision that has taken many by surprise, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided to call for the election of Comites (Comitati degli Italiani all’Estero) on Dec. 19. There are several aspects of this upcoming election that I find hard to stand by. Let’s tackle them in order.
First of all: What is Comites? Aside from those who have participated in these groups before and a few others, most of the four million Italians holding Italian Citizenship and living abroad have no clue what we are talking about. I remember , during a recent visit to Silicon Valley, the puzzled looks of young Italian entrepreneurs who asked me to explain what Comites is.
In theory, Comites “Comitato degli Italiani all’Estero” are committees of Italian citizens living abroad, in charge of gathering whatever concerns and needs come from their community and bringing them to their local Consular office and representatives in Parliament. There is a Comites for every Consular district, and each committee is made up of a dozen or so members in charge for five years.
This all sounds wonderful, but in practice it has been a very different story. The last Comites elections took place in 2004, and a new election that was due to take place in 2009 was postponed. As time passed, the goals and work of these committees — with very few exceptions around the world — withered to almost nothing, making them all but obsolete.
Now, all of a sudden, there seems to be a renewed interest in reviving Comites, but the rushed announcement of a vote is worrisome. Who is really interested in renewing them, if they have almost never served their original purpose?
Along with other senators elected abroad, I had proposed to take some time to think about a good and meaningful reform. As I see it, we cannot afford to jump into a vote and spend huge amounts of money and energy for what is very likely going to be a disappointing result.
We need to first ensure that we have the most comprehensive list possible of all Italians living abroad today. I am talking about Italians registered with A.I.R.E. (Anagrafe degli Italiani Residenti all’Estero). In order to vote in any Italian election, not just Comites, Italian citizens must make sure their Consular office has them registered.
A lack of registrations — coupled with the fact that many registrations were made many years ago when the registration form didn’t ask for an email address — makes it difficult and very expensive to inform every voter of upcoming elections. In my district alone (North and Central America), there are about 400,000 Italian voters. To send everyone a letter would take an enormous amount of time and money. But with email, all that could be drastically reduced.
As far as I’m concerned, we should have waited until spring to vote for Comites, and in the meantime use that money to update every Consular office’s registries, focusing especially on gathering emails from those who have it. This type of investment would save substantial amounts of money for all future communications. We can’t keep complaining that there is no money and then waste the little we have. Let’s use new technologies to our advantage.
In the end, I hope these elections go much better than most people’s expectations. What I’m really worried about is that a poor voter turnout will be used as an excuse to eliminate the vote for Italians living abroad altogether. We fought tooth and nail in the Senate to keep our right to vote, but things might go differently when the new electoral law goes through the Chamber of Deputies.
If you are an Italian citizen and are eligible to vote for Comites (remember, you must be signed up with A.I.R.E.), please call your district’s Consular office and make sure you are registered as a voter before the Nov. 19 registration deadline.
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