Low turnout scuttles Italy referendum on citizenship

Rome-a Italian referendum on the granting of faster citizenship to certain immigrants and trying to strengthen labor rights failed because of a low turnout, after Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and leading right-wing political parties encouraged Italians to boycott the democratic process.

Upon admitted defeat, Maurizio Landini, the Secretary-General of the Powerful Cgil Trade Union Federation, said to create the referendum that it was still a “starting point” about important issues that “stay on the table” for Italy. This includes heated debates about how many immigrants have to be welcomed in Italy, because the country has a demographic crisis With an aging population and one of the lowest birth rates in the world.

In addition to asking Italians to vote to liberalize the labor market, the referendum tried to reduce the time needed to become a naturalized citizen from 10 years to five years. Campaigners for a change said that this would help the second generation of Italians in the country with the citizens of the non-European Union. They can spend years, often in adulthood, fighting to get full citizenship rights of the only country they know as their home.

Italian economists have said that the change could also be a useful measure to tackle the problems arising from the aging society of Italy and a low birth rate – only 12% of the population Is younger than 14.

On Sunday and Monday, the two days of voting referendum, the turnout was low and so the referendum was declared invalid. Published partial data from the Italian Ministry of the Interior Zwonds, showed the national turnout of only 22.7%, far below 50% participation by eligible voters needed for referenda in Italy to be valid. After the polls were closed on Monday, the Youtrend Polling Agency estimated the participation of voters about 30% of the eligible voters. In his concession, Landini said that it was clear from the results that “there is a clear crisis of democracy.”

Right -wing parties insisted on the voters to stay at home

According to the Associated Press and Reuters, the new citizenship rules could have applied for around 2.5 million aliens, about half of the foreign population of Italy.

This change was fiercely opposed by Meloni’s right -wing brothers of Italy and other right -wing political parties, who have campaigned on reducing the number of foreign migrants in Italy and often regard Italian identity as closely linked to blood predecessor.

In the weeks prior to the referendum, these politicians do not have campaign for their supporters to vote “no”, but simply called on the process of boycotting. Senate speaker Ignazio La Russa, of the brothers of Italy, said in May that he would “take a campaign until people stay at home.”

The Italian newspaper The Republic reported That the Italy brothers spread a memo to party members who said it was “absolutely against” the questions in the referendum and therefore encouraged members to abstain from voting.

Meloni visited a polling station on Sunday, but explicitly did not vote.

Referenda have long been an important part of Italian democracy. Introduced as part of a system of controls on power after the fascist rule of Benito Mussolini, some have resulted in a high turnout and resulting decisions, including the end of the monarchy of Italy and confirm that separation is permitted.

While the government of Meloni is not the first to try to destroy a referendum with a Boycot-left Italian leaders in the past have done the same civil rights activists and opposition parties expressed indignationsay that this strategy violates ‘the basis of democracy’.

Elly Schlein, the leader of the Center-Linkse Democratic Party, said It was a “betrayal of the constitutional principles that vote as a civil obligation”.

Between 1974 and 1995, eight of the nine referenda reached the quorum for voter participation. But since then, according to the Italian newspaper He postsOnly four of the 34 referenda have enough voters to be valid.