Italy Citizenship Referendum Fails: Low Turnout
- ROME — An Italian referendum seeking to expedite citizenship for immigrants and strengthen labor protections failed due to insufficient voter participation.
- Maurizio Landini, head of the CGIL trade union federation, acknowledged the defeat but emphasized that the underlying issues remain critical for Italy.
- The referendum included a proposal to shorten the naturalization period from 10 to five years.
Italy Citizenship Referendum Fails Amid Boycott Calls
Updated June 09,2025
ROME — An Italian referendum seeking to expedite citizenship for immigrants and strengthen labor protections failed due to insufficient voter participation. the vote followed calls for a boycott by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and other leading right-wing figures.
Maurizio Landini, head of the CGIL trade union federation, acknowledged the defeat but emphasized that the underlying issues remain critical for Italy. These include ongoing debates about immigration levels amid a demographic crisis characterized by an aging populace and one of the world’s lowest birthrates.
A woman walks past campaign posters ahead of the referendum in Rome on June 5.
Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images
The referendum included a proposal to shorten the naturalization period from 10 to five years. Supporters argued this would benefit second-generation Italians born to non-EU parents, who frequently enough face lengthy battles to obtain citizenship in their country of birth.
Economists have suggested that easing citizenship requirements could help address Italy’s aging society and low birthrate, where just 12% of the population is under 14.
However, voter turnout on Sunday and Monday was insufficient, rendering the referendum invalid. preliminary data indicated a national turnout of only 22.7%, well below the 50% threshold required for Italian referendums. YouTrend polling agency estimated final participation at around 30%. Landini described the results as indicative of “an obvious crisis of democracy.”
Right-wing parties urged voters to stay home
The proposed citizenship changes could have allowed approximately 2.5 million foreign nationals, about half of Italy’s foreign population, to apply for citizenship, according to the Associated press and Reuters.
Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party and other right-wing parties strongly opposed the measure, advocating for reduced immigration and emphasizing blood ancestry as central to italian identity.Instead of campaigning for a “no” vote, these politicians urged their supporters to abstain from voting altogether. Senate speaker ignazio La Russa stated in May that he would “campaign until people stay home.”
the Republic reported that Brothers of Italy circulated a memo to party members,expressing strong opposition to the referendum and encouraging abstention. meloni visited a polling station on Sunday but notably did not vote.
Referendums have historically played a meaningful role in Italian democracy, serving as checks on power since the end of Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime. Some have seen high participation and resulted in consequential decisions, such as the abolition of the monarchy and the legalization of divorce.
While not the first instance of a government attempting to thwart a referendum through a boycott,civil rights activists and opposition parties condemned the strategy as a violation of “the foundation of democracy.”
Elly Schlein, leader of the center-left Democratic Party, said it was a “betrayal of the constitutional principles that establish voting as a civic duty.”
Between 1974 and 1995, eight of nine referendums reached the quorum for voter participation. But since then,according to the Italian newspaper He post,only four of 34 referendums have had enough voters to be valid.