On Monday, the 9th of June, a referendum on easing citizenship rules and increasing workers’ rights ended in Italy and was declared invalid because only about 30% of voters took part, which is significantly less than the 50% threshold required for the vote to be legally binding, according to the BBC and Reuters.
The referendum was initiated by citizens and supported by a coalition of centre-left opposition parties, civil society groups and trade union, all of which campaigned for a “yes” vote.
For them, the result, which shows that only 22% of voters turned out in regions such as Sicily and Calabria, is a heavy blow and a victory for Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her government, who ignored the referendum or even called on people not to vote.
On Sunday, she visited a polling station in Rome but did not vote.
The vote included five questions on various topics, including a proposal to reduce the time required to apply for citizenship in Italy from 10 to five years.
Last week, Meloni announced that she would boycott the vote, calling Italy’s current citizenship law “excellent” and “very open”.
However, activists argued that 10 years to apply for citizenship is too long and that reducing it to five years would be in line with the legislation of many other European countries.
Shortly after the polls closed, Meloni’s party, the Brothers of Italy (FdI), posted a photo of the opposition leaders on Instagram with the caption: “You lost!”“The only goal of this referendum was to bring down Meloni’s government. But in the end, you were brought down by the Italian people,” the post said.
The opposition had hoped that by focusing on labour rights and the problems of Italian citizens, they would be able to challenge Meloni, which they have been trying to do since she came to power in 2022.
Trade union leader Maurizio Landini said: “We did not achieve our goal. Today is not a victory,” but added that millions of people voted, calling it a “start” for further efforts.
In a country with rapidly declining birth rates, some economists believe that attracting more foreigners is essential to stimulate the weak economy, while human rights organisations called for a vote in favour of promoting the integration of migrant workers.
Half a million Italian signatures are required for a referendum to be held in Italy. However, there are now calls to raise this threshold in order to reduce the number of votes cast.
The other four referendum questions concerned the reversal of labour market liberalisation carried out ten years ago and increasing the liability of companies in the event of accidents at work if they use contract workers and subcontractors.
Only about half of the 78 referendums held in Italy since World War II have attracted enough votes to become binding.
In the first referendum, held on the 2nd of June 1946, 89% of Italians turned out to vote, with just over half voting to replace the monarchy with a republic.
This was followed by successful referendums on abortion and divorce. The last referendum to reach the required 50% threshold was the 2011 vote against a law on the privatisation of water supply.
Referendum in Italy fails due to low voter turnout
