The high abstention rate in the Italian citizenship referendum makes it non-binding.

BarcelonaThe high abstention rate in the referendum held in Italy between yesterday and today, Monday, has prevented the approval of an opposition proposal that sought to Reducing the legal residence period in the country to obtain Italian nationality from ten to five years. The referendum also included votes on several labor measures, which also failed to pass. For the referendum result to be binding, at least 50% of voters needed to participate. By the time the polls closed at 3 p.m. on Monday, only 30% of the electorate had voted, according to preliminary turnout data.

"The sole objective of this referendum was to overthrow the [Giorgia] Meloni government. In the end, however, it was the Italians who brought you down," the prime minister's Brothers of Italy party, the party's party, wrote on social media. It also released a photograph of the main opposition leaders with the phrase "You lost."

In fact, Meloni's government had explicitly called for abstention to render the referendum invalid. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, of the conservative Forza Italia party, and Infrastructure and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini, of the far-right League, had been particularly involved in this regard.

"Citizenship is not a gift; we demand clearer and stricter rules for becoming Italian citizens. A few more years of residence are not enough," Salvini stated at an event of the Patriots for Europe group on Monday, a few hours before the polls closed.

Foreign citizens legally residing in Italy must wait at least ten years to apply for citizenship, one of the longest waiting periods among European Union countries. This period must also include a waiting period of at least two years from the date the application is submitted, which can be extended to five.

Labor reforms

In addition to the nationality proposal, the referendum also sought to advance several labor reforms championed by the country's largest union, the CGIL. Specifically, it sought to repeal the rule that employees hired since 2015 by companies with more than 15 employees cannot be reinstated after unfair dismissal, even if a judge so rules. It also sought to eliminate the severance pay limit for workers unjustly dismissed from small companies and increase employer liability in the event of work-related accidents or occupational diseases.

MP Riccardo Magi of the progressive More Europe party had initiated the referendum, but other political parties, associations, and unions later joined in, and more than 637,000 signatures were collected to ensure its passage.

Since 1997, only two referendums in Italy have exceeded the minimum turnout for the result to be binding: one in 2011 on public water management, and another in 2020 to reduce the number of parliamentarians in the country by a third, from 945 to 600. ~BK_SLT_L