Italian citizenship referendum void after low turnout

A referendum in Italy on easing citizenship rules and enhancing workers’ rights has been declared invalid.

Around 30% of voters participated – well short of the 50% threshold required to make the vote binding – in the poll, which began on Sunday and ran until 15:00 (14:00 BST) on Monday.

The ballot featured five questions covering different issues, including a proposal to halve the length of time an individual has to live in Italy before they can apply for citizenship from 10 to five years.

The referendum was initiated by a citizens’ initiative and supported by civil society groups and trade unions, all of whom campaigned for the Yes vote.

For them, the outcome – which saw turnout levels as low as 22% in regions like Sicily and Calabria – will come as a blow.

Reaching the 50% threshold was always going to be a struggle – not least because the Italian government, led by hard-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, largely ignored the referendum or actively discouraged people from voting.

“Whether just above 30% or just below 30%, this is a low figure, below the expectations and targets set by the promoters,” Lorenzo Pregliasco, the founder of political polling company YouTrend, told Italy’s SkyTG24.

Last week, Meloni announced she would boycott the vote, declaring Italy’s existing citizenship law as “excellent” and “very open”. She visited a polling station in Rome on Sunday but did not cast a vote.

But activists argued that a 10-year wait to apply for citizenship was far too long, and that reducing the requirement to five years would bring Italy in line with many of its European neighbours.

Shortly after polls closed, Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (FdI) party posted an image of opposition leaders on Instagram with the caption: “You’ve lost!”

“The only real objective of this referendum was to topple the Meloni government. In the end though Italians toppled you,” the post read.

Pina Picierno of the opposition Democratic Party (PD), said the referendum had been a “deep, serious and avoidable defeat,” and called the failure to reach the 50% threshold a “huge gift to Giorgia Meloni and the right”.

Half a million signatures are required to call a referendum in Italy. However, there are now calls for that threshold to be increased to reduce the number of votes put to the public.

“We spent a lot of money sending… millions of ballots abroad for Italian [expats] to vote, and they’ve been wasted,” said foreign minister Antonio Tajani on Monday.

Only about half of the 78 referendums held in Italy since World War Two have attracted enough votes to make them binding.

The first one, held on 2 June 1946, saw 89% of Italians go to the polls and just over half of those vote to replace the monarchy with a republic.

In later years, referendums on abortion and divorce were also held successfully.

The last referendum to reach the required threshold was a 2011 vote against a law privatising water services.