Overview

• The two-day referendum on five employment and citizenship reforms drew under 30 percent turnout, far below the required quorum.
• Opposition parties and trade unions had backed measures to strengthen worker protections and reduce the residency requirement for naturalization from ten to five years.
• Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition urged supporters to abstain, effectively nullifying potential No votes.
• Preliminary tallies showed about 85 percent of participants approved labor-rights reforms and 64 percent backed faster citizenship.
• The vote’s invalidation is viewed as a strategic win for Meloni’s government and a setback for the centre-left opposition.