Low voter turnout in Italy appears to have sunk reform referenda brought to ballot by center-left opposition groups and labor organizations. The result is a victory for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who rejected them.PoliticsItaly
Italy: Low turnout sinks citizenship, labor referendums

Low voter turnout in Italy appears to have sunk reform referenda brought to ballot by center-left opposition groups and labor organizations. The result is a victory for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who rejected them.

A woman in a pale lilac suit and blonde hair (Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni) looks upward as a military band can be made out behind her in a photo taken on May 17,2025
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni claimed to be clear winner of this weekend’s

Italian citizenship and labor reform referendums look likely to fail due to low voter turnout.

As two-day voting wound down in Europe’s fourth-largest economy only about 30% of Italy’s 51 million eligible voters had turned out to cast ballots in five referendums championed by center-left opposition groups as well as the country’s labor unions.

Referendums require 50% plus one voter participation to be legally binding in Italy.

The result is seen as a major victory for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who vehemently opposed the measures.

Meloni arrived at a Rome polling station on Sunday — when turnout was 22% — to declare that she would not cast a vote.

Meloni then once-again encouraged her supporters to likewise boycott the ballot.