Overview

• Government majority has mounted an abstention campaign to keep turnout below the 50% plus one quorum needed to validate the five-question referendum.
• Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says she will go to polling stations without withdrawing her ballot to signal respect for the process while opposing the referendum measures.
• Meloni reiterated strong opposition to halving the residency requirement for citizenship from ten to five years, calling Italy’s current law sufficiently open.
• Opposition leader Elly Schlein and other parties have urged Italians to vote, framing the abstention drive as a sign of fear about citizen participation.
• CGIL head Maurizio Landini stressed that achieving the quorum is the sole measure of success and rejected claims that a low turnout could still be spun as a political win.