The Ministry of the Interior of Italy announced today that the turnout in the referendum on constitutional changes, which is being held in that country today, was 20,14 percent by noon.
Voting is underway in Italy on a referendum on constitutional changes aimed at strengthening the central government and radically changing the parliament through limiting the power of the Senate.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi voted in a referendum that, according to AP, will be decisive for his political future.
Renci voted in the presence of his wife at a polling station in Pontassevo, a town in the Tuscany region about 14 kilometers from Florence where he was mayor before becoming prime minister two years ago.
The polling stations opened this morning at 07.00:23.00, and will be closed at XNUMX:XNUMX.
After the British voted to leave the European Union and the Americans elected Donald Trump as president, the referendum in Italy, where 51 million citizens have the right to vote, is seen as fateful, according to Reuters.
Its goal is to reduce the powers and size of the Senate, and according to analysts, the prime minister would be given much greater powers, the British agency says.
On the other hand, the American agency AP states that the referendum turned into a "virtual plebiscite" on the center-left government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
If the constitution were to be amended, the legislative process would experience the biggest changes, that is, it would no longer be necessary for both houses of parliament to vote on all laws, which means every time an amendment is made.
Instead, the 630 members of the Chamber of Deputies would pass the majority of laws, and the number of members of the Senate would be reduced from 315 to 100, five of whom would be appointed by the President of Italy, and the other 95 would be from the ranks of Italian mayors and regional representatives.
A vote of confidence in the government would also be the exclusive right of the lower house of parliament.
Another major change would be the transfer of certain responsibilities from the regions to the central government.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi called on Italians to support the referendum, saying that Italy could become the strongest European country if the outcome of the vote is positive.
While he and his allies from the center-left, along with banks and industrialists, claim that the reforms would help modernize the country, opponents of the constitutional changes, including the 5-Star Movement, believe that they would threaten democracy because too much power would be concentrated in the prime minister's office. .
The proposed constitutional reforms are opposed, among others, by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and the leader of the Northern League, Matteo Salvini, who is in favor of giving greater, not lesser, powers to the regions.
Most polls indicate that there are more Italians who could circle "no" and reject the reform of the Constitution, although a large number of respondents were undecided.
Considering the changes to the electoral law that came into force this summer, constitutional reform would make the work of the government easier, according to Reuters.
The party, which wins 40 percent of the votes in the future, would get an absolute majority in the parliament. Strengthened in this way, it could implement urgently needed reforms.
This has always been the weakness of Italian politics - the country has had 70 governments in the last 63 years.
Prime Minister Renzi announced that he would resign if Italians rejected the reforms in a referendum, but later revised his position.
He admitted that he had made a "big mistake" by promising to resign if the anti-reform vote won.
When asked, however, who could replace Renci if he really resigns, the American agency answers: Renci.
"Given that he leads the Democrats, the largest parliamentary party, Italian President Sergio Mattarella could ask him to try to form a new government, a so-called "technocratic" government - made up of economists and other individuals outside the world of politics, which would be more less acceptable to many Italians," AP assesses.
The last president of the technocratic government was former European Commissioner Mario Monti, who introduced strict austerity measures for the recovery of the Italian economy, the agency reminds.
Ahead of the Italian referendum, financial markets are nervous.
The probability that Italy will leave the monetary union, the investment consulting firm Sentix, meanwhile, estimates at 19,3 percent - which is higher than ever before. They refer to a survey conducted among a thousand financial experts.
The fact is that the bad economic situation weakens Renzi's position. About 12 percent of Italians are still unemployed, and unemployment among young people is much higher - 40 percent. Economic performance today is lower than 10 years ago, and the debt of the state amounts to more than 130 percent of the gross social income. It is the largest debt in the eurozone, after Greece.
"No" in the referendum is for many Italians an opportunity to vent their dissatisfaction. It is "no" to neoliberal reforms, "no" to austerity measures, "no" to the establishment, "no" to the euro and the European Union, according to Reuters.
AP reminds that parliamentary elections in Italy are scheduled for the spring of 2018.
"Following the surprise victory of comedian and activist Bepa Grillo of the 5 Star Movement in Rome and in other mayoral races earlier this year, the 5 Star Movement is eager to take over national power. So the parliament's priority after the referendum would likely be to refine the electoral law to minimized the potential rise of the 5 Star Movement," concludes AP.
Bonus video:
