Low turnout thwarts Italian referendums, deals blow to opposition

By Angelo Amante and Alvise Armellini

ROME (Reuters) - Low voter turnout on Monday sank Italian opposition referendum proposals to ease citizenship laws and tighten job protection rules, with senior figures in the coalition of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni saying the outcome boosted the government.

Near-final data from polling stations in Italy showed only around 30% of eligible voters had cast their ballots at the end of two days of voting, far short of the 50% plus one of the electorate needed to make the vote legally binding.

The outcome - which will be final once votes from Italians living abroad are counted - is a blow for the coalition of centre-left opposition parties, civil society groups and the CGIL trade union behind the referendum questions, and a win for Meloni who strongly opposed them.

"The opposition wanted to turn the referendum into a vote on the Meloni government. The response is very clear: the government emerges from this stronger and the left is weaker," said Giovanbattista Fazzolari, a cabinet undersecretary and a close aide to Meloni.

Meloni and her right-wing allies encouraged their supporters to boycott the vote. The prime minister visited a polling station in Rome on Sunday but opted not to cast a vote.

Opposition forces had hoped that latching on to the issues of labour rights and Italy's demographic woes could help them challenge Meloni, something they have struggled to do since she came to power in 2022.

"Our goal was to reach a quorum, it is clear that we did not reach it. Today is not a day of victory," said CGIL union leader Maurizio Landini, who added millions of Italians went to vote and that was "a starting number" to keep fighting for change.

CITIZENSHIP ISSUE PROVES DIVISIVE

One of the five referendums was about reducing the period of residence required to apply for Italian citizenship by naturalisation to five years from 10 years, which according to organisers would have affected about 2.5 million people.

In a country suffering a sharp decline in the birth rate, some economists believe attracting more foreigners is vital to boosting an anaemic economy, while rights groups campaigned for a "Yes" vote to promote the integration of migrant workers.

According to initial figures around 35% of voters were against easing the citizenship requirements, indicating the "No" vote could be much higher than in the other questions where the "Yes" looked poised for a very strong majority.

The other four referendum questions concerned a reversal of labour market liberalisations introduced a decade ago, and a broadening of liability rules on accidents at work for companies relying on contractors and subcontractors.

(Reporting by Angelo Amante and Alvise Armellini; Writing by Keith Weir and Angelo Amante; Editing by Sharon Singleton, Keith Weir, William Maclean)