ROME — On paper, there are 182 Italian senators in favour of the Boschi legislative bill "reforming" the Senate, the upper house of Parliament, but there are 28 dissidents in the Democratic Party, and 161 votes are needed for the bill to pass. The desire of Palazzo Chigi, the office of the Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, to skip over the Senate's verdict could in fact hide the risk that there aren’t enough votes to pass it, political commentators say. 

  The reform would turn Italy's second chamber into a non-elected assembly with only a limited say on legislation. However, the opposition has over 500,000 amendments to it.   

  In the past Renzi has said that the fate of his coalition government is linked to the reform. He said that it would make Italian politics more efficient, by eliminating the need for both houses of parliament to approve all laws.

  The ball is now in the hands of the minority of the Democratic party. There are 28 dissidents who signed the amendments, asking instead for direct election to the Senate. If all turn their back on the party in the vote, Renzi could struggle with trying to pass the measure. 

  Nonetheless, the government is sure that many of those 28 will remain loyal to the Democratic Party, official sources say. However, these are the same people that voted against the Woods bill in the first round at the Senate. Amongst them, they are predominantly unknown, but some are easily recognised, including the former mayor of Brescia, Paolo Corsini, journalist Corradino Mineo and the former judge, Felice Casson, political sources say. 

  The decision of Palazzo Chigi to put pressure on skipping the Senate is not only to save time, but also because already their numbers are at risk: those in favour of the bill, despite the substitution of Mario Mauro and the reorganisation some weeks ago - could be no more than 13 out of 27, but could be even worse than that.