Italians vote to ease citizenship requirements - Referendum includes questions on labor market changes
Italians will start voting on Sunday in a two-day referendum to decide whether to ease citizenship laws and overturn a decade of labor market liberalization. But the vote may fail to generate enough turnout to be considered valid.
Left and center-left opposition parties, civil society groups and a major trade union have focused on labor rights and Italy's demographic problems as a way to challenge the right-wing coalition government led by Giorgia Meloni.
They collected over 4.5 million signatures, far more than needed to trigger the referendum, which will include five questions, four on the labor market and one on citizenship.
However, polls suggest they will struggle to convince the required 50% plus one of the electorate to turn out to make the vote binding. Meloni and senior government ministers have indicated they will not vote. A Demopolis poll last month estimated turnout would be around 31-39% among Italy's 50 million voters, well below the required threshold.
"Securing a quorum will be difficult. The opposition's minimum goal is to show strength and bring more people to the vote than the 12.3 million who supported the center-right in the 2022 general election," said one of the pollsters.
The citizenship issue has drawn the most public attention in a nation where concerns over immigration rates helped bring Giorgia Meloni's anti-immigrant coalition to power in 2022.
The question on the ballot asks Italians whether they support reducing the period of residence required to apply for Italian citizenship to five years from 10. This could affect around 2.5 million foreign nationals, organizers say.
With births in Italy in sharp decline, economists say the country needs to attract more foreigners to boost the anemic economy.
The labor market questions aim to make it harder for some workers to leave and increase compensation for laid-off employees, overturning a law passed a decade ago.
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