Italian lawmakers late on Monday approved an overhaul of the voting system that should make it easier for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to win reelection.

But some leftwingers, and many in the opposition, were critical, calling the reform a power grab.

Critics on the left

Prominent members of Renzi’s Democratic Party, including his predecessor, Enrico Letta, and former party leader, Pier Luigi Bersani, voiced concerns.

More than three dozen party lawmakers abstained from a confidence vote last week that Renzi had called in response to opposition from the left. On Monday night, many lawmakers walked out in protest.

Critics on the right

Renato Brunetta, the parliamentary leader of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, accused Renzi of “fascism”.

“It’s a very ugly day for our country’s democracy,” he said.

Berlusconi previously backed the electoral changes but ended a pact when Renzi failed to consult him on the appointment of a new president in February.

Critics in the media

Establishment media have also been wary.

La Repubblica characterized Renzi’s threat to resign if the reforms failed as “a show of weakness, disguised as a show of strength.”

The editor of Milan’s centrist Corriere della Sera called the prime minister a “young caudillo” (strongman) who committed “errors borne out of arrogance.”

The changes

Under the new law, which goes into effect next year, the party that wins at least 40 percent support in national elections is guaranteed a majority of the seats in the lower chamber of parliament.

If no party crosses the threshold, a runoff would be held between the two most popular parties.

Given the division on the right, where Forza Italia threatens to be overtaken by the separatist Northern League, the rules would mostly benefit Renzi’s Democrats.

A separate reform, enacted last year, reduces the Senate to a body of regional deputies without the ability to block legislation, further concentrating power in the prime minister’s party.