A joint Senate-Chamber special ‘political renewal’ committee was installed in order to discuss and put forward reforms of the electoral system, the introduction of instruments of direct democracy, etc. It established a very long list of possible reforms, and the discussions evolved quite slowly. In the meantime, the government decided, on its own, to implement a 50% reduction of the weight of list votes in determining the order in which individual candidates from the list are to be elected for elections at all levels. This reform was the result of a compromise between the Liberals, who wanted a more drastic reform, and the Socialists and Greens who were not clearly in favour of such a reform. The distinction between effective and substitute candidates’ lists was also abandoned. This reform was first implemented for the October local elections. The Council of Ministers also put forward a constitutional reform ensuring the presence of at least one member of each gender in the federal and subnational Cabinets.