Italy Politics

The politics of Italy is conducted through a parliamentary, democratic republic with a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised collectively by the Council of Ministers, which is led by the President of the Council of Ministers, referred to as "Presidente del Consiglio" in Italian. Legislative power is vested in the two houses of parliament primarily, and secondarily on the Council of Ministers. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislative branches. Italy has been a democratic republic since 2 June 1946, when the monarchy was abolished by popular referendum. The constitution was promulgated on 1 January 1948. The current President of Italy is Giorgio Napolitano, while the current Prime Minister of Italy is Silvio Berlusconi. With a net worth of US$ 9.4 billion, Berlusconi is the Western world's and Europe's richest head of government.