The parties of Premier Giorgia Meloni’s ruling coalition reached an agreement on a new election law during talks overnight, sources said on Thursday.

The law would do away with the third of seats currently allocated on a first-past-the-post basis and would bring in a totally proportional representation system with a majority bonus for the coalition that obtains over 40% of the vote – 70 seats in the Lower House and 35 in the Senate.

The aim is to ensure “stability” by making sure the winning side has a working majority in parliament and it has already been nicknamed the ‘stabilicum’ by some.

There would be a run-off in the case of coalitions getting between 35% and 40% of the vote, the sources said.

Voters would not have the opportunity to express preferences about which candidates they prefer on their ballot papers.

The bill is being fine tuned and it is expected to be presented very soon.

Meloni, the leader of the right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, said last month that the ruling coalition wanted dialogue with the opposition parties on shaping the new system, while adding that it would press ahead without them if they refused.

Opposition parties have said the government wants to change the election law to make it more difficult for them to win the next general election.