Polls opened in on Sunday, in a two-day voting session for a referendum that could change citizenship law and labor laws.
The vote was triggered by an NGO-led grassroots campaign. According to Italy’s constitution, a referendum can be called if a petition is signed by at least 500,000 voters.
Results are expected after polls close on Monday at 3 p.m. local time (2pm UTC). Over 51 million Italians are eligible to participate in the vote, but the results are only binding with a 50% turnout.
Italy has held 78 referendums, but the results of many of them were not enacted due to not reaching over 50% turnout.
Italians voting on easing citizenship rules
On the ballot are several questions related to the country’s labor law, while , a hotly contested issue in Italy, is one that has recieved the most attention.
Italians will be asked if they support reducing the time required to apply for citizenship that makes it easier for children born to foreigners in Italy to obtain citizenship.
Currently, a non-EU adult resident without marriage or blood ties to Italy must live in the country for 10 years before they can apply for citizenship. The referendum asks to reduce that to 5 years.
Campaigners for the change in the citizenship law say it will help second-generation Italians born in the country to non-EU parents better integrate into a culture they already see as theirs.
They say this reform would bring Italy’s citizenship law in line with many other European countries, including Germany, adding that it would benefit around 2.5 million people.
Italian voters will also choose whether they agree with greater worker protections against dismissal, access to higher severance payments, support for the conversion of fixed-term contracts into permanent ones, and about liability in cases of workplace accidents.
Meloni’s government urges abstention
Politically, the center-left Democratic Party and other groups that oppose Italy’s current government are backing the referendum and urging voters to pass the measures.
But the governing right-wing coalition in Rome, led by Prime Minister , is advising its supporters and the wider public not to participate, essentially hoping that the vote does not reach the 50% threshold.
Meloni has said she would go to the polls but not cast a ballot, a move that was widely criticized by the left as antidemocratic.
Last month’s opinion polls showed that only 46% of Italians were aware of the issues driving the referendums. Turnout is projected to be around 35%, which would be well below the target for the reforms to pass.
Meloni does not back the citizenship measure. Her far-right party Brothers of Italy has sought to curb illegal immigration, while increasing the number of legal work visas for migrants.
She praised the current system as “excellent law, among the most open, in the sense that we have for years been among the European nations that grant the highest number of citizenships each year.”
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar
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