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This article aims to compare the two legislative electoral reforms that took place in Italy in 1993 and 2005, by analyzing the contexts in which they emerged and were adopted. The laws emerged in very different contexts: in the constraint of the abrogative referendum of April 1993 on the one hand, and in the context of internal conflict in the center-right coalition in 2005 on the other hand. However, the rationales for adoption in both cases are relatively similar: these laws, through complex ambiguous and potentially contradictory mechanisms, aim to conciliate divergent interests in the heterogeneous coalitions sustaining them. We conclude by drawing attention to the following central elements in the analysis of the two processes: the degree of uncertainty in which political parties evolve, the internal coalition dynamics and the part played by ambiguity to reach a consensus.