A referendum on easing citizenship rules and strengthening labor laws in Italy has failed due to low voter turnout, in a win for Giorgia Meloni, whose government urged people to boycott it. Over 50% of voters had to participate to validate the two-day referendum but by close of polls on Monday, June 9, just over 30% of those eligible had done so.
The referendum proposal, triggered by a grassroots campaign and backed by the center-left Democratic Party (PD), would have reduced the time it takes to get citizenship. A non-EU adult resident without marriage or blood ties to Italy must currently live in the country for 10 years before they can apply – a process which can then take years more. A referendum win would have cut this to five years, putting Italy in line with Germany and France.
But Prime Minister Meloni, whose far-right Brothers of Italy party has prioritized cutting irregular immigration even as her government has increased the number of migrant work visas, had said she was "absolutely against" the idea. And many members of her right-wing coalition urged people not to vote to prevent the threshold being met.
The ballot included one question on citizenship. The four others were on increasing protections for workers who are dismissed, in precarious situations or involved in workplace accidents. CGIL general secretary Maurizio Landini slammed the low turnout as a sign of a "clear democratic crisis" in Italy.
Under new leadership, the PD – which is polling behind Meloni's far-right Fratelli d'Italia – had sought to woo working-class voters by backing the referendum. Giovanbattista Fazzolari, Meloni's right-hand man, said the opposition "wanted to turn this referendum into a referendum on the Meloni government." "The answer seems very clear: the government emerges even stronger and the left even weaker," he told journalists in Rome.
Even had it passed, the reform would not have affected a migration law many consider unfair: that children born in Italy to foreign parents cannot request nationality until they reach 18.