ROME — An Italian referendum on granting faster citizenship to certain immigrants and seeking to strengthen labor rights failed because of low turnout, after Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and leading right-wing political parties urged Italians to boycott the democratic process.
In conceding defeat, Maurizio Landini, the secretary-general of the powerful CGIL trade union federation that helped bring about the referendum, said it still was a "starting point" on important issues that remain "on the table" for Italy. This includes heated debates over how many immigrants should be welcomed to Italy, as the country suffers a demographic crisis with an aging population and one of the lowest birthrates in the world.
As well as asking Italians to vote to liberalize the labor market, the referendum sought to reduce the time it takes to become a naturalized citizen from 10 years to five years. Campaigners for the change said this would help second-generation Italians born in the country to non-European Union citizens. They can spend years, often long into adulthood, battling to get full citizenship rights from the only country they know to be their home.
Italian economists have said the change could also be a useful measure to address the problems resulting from Italy's aging society and low birthrate — just 12% of the population is younger than 14.
On Sunday and Monday, the two days of referendum voting, turnout was low and thus the referendum was declared void. Partial data from Italy's Interior Ministry published Sunday showed national turnout of just 22.7%, far below the 50% participation by eligible voters that is required for referendums in Italy to be valid. After polls closed on Monday, the YouTrend polling agency estimated voter participation to have been around 30% of eligible voters. In his concession speech, Landini said it was clear from the results that "there is an obvious crisis of democracy."
Right-wing parties urged voters to stay home
According to the Associated Press and Reuters, the new citizenship rules could have allowed some 2.5 million foreign nationals, about half of Italy's foreign population, to apply for citizenship.
This change was vehemently opposed by Meloni's right-wing Brothers of Italy party and other right-wing political parties, who have campaigned on reducing the number of foreign migrants in Italy and often see Italian identity as intimately linked with blood ancestry.
In the weeks leading up to the referendum, these politicians did not campaign for their supporters to vote "no" but simply called on them to boycott the process. Senate speaker Ignazio La Russa, from Brothers of Italy, said in May that he would "campaign until people stay home."
The Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported that Brothers of Italy circulated a memo to party members saying it was "absolutely against" the questions in the referendum and was therefore encouraging members to abstain from voting.
On Sunday, Meloni visited a polling station, but pointedly did not cast a vote.
Referendums have long been an important part of Italy's democracy. Brought in as part of a system of checks on power after the fascist rule of Benito Mussolini, some have resulted in a high turnout and consequential decisions, including the end of Italy's monarchy and confirming that divorce be allowed.
While Meloni's government is not the first to try to quash a referendum with a boycott — left-wing Italian leaders have done the same in the past — civil rights activists and opposition parties expressed outrage, saying this strategy violates "the foundation of democracy."
Elly Schlein, the leader of the center-left Democratic Party, said it was a "betrayal of the constitutional principles that establish voting as a civic duty."
Between 1974 and 1995, eight of nine referendums reached the quorum for voter participation. But since then, according to the Italian newspaper Il Post, only four of 34 referendums have had enough voters to be valid.
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