Constitutional referendum in Italy 2016

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Ballot box

In the constitutional referendum in Italy on December 4, 2016 , the electorate voted on a constitutional amendment approved by the Parliament of the Italian Republic . This envisaged a reorganization of the parliament, in particular a far-reaching reform of the Senate and a return of the previous powers of the regions to the state. After the constitutional referendum failed, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced his resignation. A similar reform project initiated by Silvio Berlusconi by the Italian Senate, albeit within the framework of a federal reform to strengthen the regions, had previously also failed in a constitutional referendum on June 25 and 26, 2006 .

Political background

In 1947 the Constituent Assembly did not succeed in creating a differentiated bicameral system. The Italian constitution provides that both chambers of parliament have equal rights and that the government is therefore dependent on the trust of both chambers. There have been concrete attempts to reform this constitutional order since the 1980s. They failed because of conflicting political interests, thinking about vested interests and the negative attitude of the population towards immature constitutional reform projects.

After the parliamentary elections in Italy in 2013 , which again led to different majorities in the two chambers of parliament, constitutional reforms were considered necessary and discussed intensively. In 2014, the Renzi government submitted a draft law to reform the constitution, primarily with the aim of making the Senate a no longer directly elected representation of the regions and municipalities. A number of constitutional law experts criticized the reform project of the Renzi government and submitted alternative reform proposals; other constitutional law experts expressly supported the reform project.

On October 13, 2015, the Senate approved the constitutional reform initiated by Matteo Renzi and his Minister Maria Elena Boschi , and on January 11, 2016, the Chamber of Deputies approved . The Senate confirmed its vote on January 20, 2016, the Chamber of Deputies on April 12, 2016. Since the two chambers of parliament only approved the reform with an absolute and not with a two-thirds majority , a referendum was required under Article 138 of the constitution Took place in 2016.

Voting question

Wording of the voting question

The question, which was voted yes or no in the referendum, was:

Approvate il testo della legge costituzionale concernente “Disposizioni per il superamento del bicameralismo paritario, la riduzione del numero dei parlamentari, il contenimento dei costi di funzionamento delle istituzioni, la soppressione del CNEL e la revisione del titolo v della dei parte II approve.” Parlamento e pubblicato nella Gazzetta Ufficiale n.88 on 15 April 2016?

In South Tyrol the question was asked in German as follows:

Are you in favor of the approval of the Constitutional Law on "Provisions to overcome the parity bicameral system, reduce the number of MPs, curb the costs of the functioning of the institutions, abolish the CNEL and revise the 5th title of the 2nd part of the Constitution", dated Parliament approved and announced in the Law Gazette No. 88 of April 15, 2016?

Desired constitutional reforms

Reform of the Senate and the legislative process

While the members of the Chamber of Deputies represent Italy as a whole, the Senate represents the so-called “territorial institutions”, i.e. regions , autonomous provinces , metropolitan cities and other municipalities . It serves as a liaison body between local and regional authorities and the state and the European Union .

composition

In contrast to the existing Senate with its 315 directly elected members and the Senators for life , the Reformed Senate consists of 95 Senators who represent the "territorial institutions" and up to five Senators who are the President of the Republic for special merits for a one-time period of seven years can appoint. The state presidents continue to become senators for life at the end of their term of office. The current senators for life retain their Senate seats.

19 regional parliaments and the state parliaments of the two autonomous provinces of Trentino and South Tyrol each elect an incumbent mayor as senator in their regional authorities. These 21 mayors thus represent the municipal level in the Senate.

74 other senators are elected by the members of the 19 regional parliaments and the two state parliaments from among their own kind. In the elections to the regional parliaments, the voters determine which members of the respective regional parliament and state parliament should be elected as senators. The regional parliaments ratify the voters' decision. At least one senator of this type is sent in each case, others depending on the size of the population. The proportional representation system applies ; the strengths of the factions in the regional parliaments must be taken into account.

The 74 senators sent by the regional parliaments and the 21 mayors elected as senators lose their mandate with the dissolution of their regional parliament or at the end of their term of office in their respective municipality. This means that the Senate can no longer be dissolved. The senators are no longer paid by the Senate, but receive their remuneration from their respective regional parliaments, state parliaments or municipalities.

Competencies

The government no longer depends on the trust of both chambers of parliament, but only on the Chamber of Deputies.

Parliament still has the right to elect five out of 15 constitutional judges . However, this no longer takes place in a joint session of the chambers, but separately. The Chamber of Deputies elects three judges, the Senate two.

The Senate continues to have equal rights with the Chamber of Deputies when it comes to constitutional amendments and constitutional laws, the ratification of EU treaties and laws that implement constitutional provisions on families and parents, linguistic minorities, referendums, local regulations and regional and local electoral systems. Otherwise the so-called equal or “perfect” two-chamber system will be abolished. This means that the Senate has fewer rights than the Chamber of Deputies.

Every draft law passed by the Chamber of Deputies is immediately forwarded to the Senate. If a third of the senators request it within ten days, the corresponding bill will also be discussed by the Senate. The Senate can submit amendments within a further 30 days, on which the Chamber of Deputies then makes a final decision. If the Senate does not request a consultation or if the specified deadline is exceeded without result, the law can be drawn up by the President of the State and come into force.

The Senate's amendments to bills of particular interest to the “territorial institutions” can only be ignored by the Chamber of Deputies with an absolute majority of its members. This applies to the capital Rome with its special status (Roma Capitale) , spatial planning issues, the after the principle of subsidiarity organized civil protection , the autonomous provinces of Trentino and South Tyrol, international relations of the Regions, the relations between the state and the regions, including the financial compensation , the rights of the municipalities, the norms for the dissolution of regional and municipal parliaments and executives in the event of unconstitutional or illegal behavior, the change of municipalities from one region to the neighboring one, the budgets of the public administrations and the obligations arising from EU membership.

If the Senate wishes to change state budget bills, it can submit proposals within 15 days of being forwarded. Budget amendments that affect the above-mentioned special interests of the territorial institutions can only be approved by an absolute majority of the senators and only rejected by an absolute majority of the MPs.

The senators, like the MPs and the government, have the right to initiate legislation . The absolute majority of the senators can force the Chamber of Deputies to deliberate on a bill. In this case, the Chamber of Deputies has six months to make a decision.

The Senate may only set up committees of inquiry to deal with matters of the regional authorities it represents.

Other reforms

  • Reorganization of the distribution of competences between the state and the regions: The legislation lies either with the state as a whole or with the regions and autonomous provinces, the framework legislation is abolished.
  • Abolition of the CNEL ( Consiglio nazionale dell'economia e del lavoro , German roughly National Council for Economy and Labor ) and the provinces (not the autonomous provinces)
  • Change of majority to elect the President: After the third ballot, a 3/5 majority is required. (so far absolute majority)
  • Two constitutional judges are elected by the Senate, three by the Chamber of Deputies.
  • Voter initiatives require 150,000 signatures. They then have to be dealt with by Parliament.
  • A referendum with 800,000 signatures can show a higher number of invalid entries (more than half of the signatures must be valid and come from voters registered in the last election).
  • The expansion of direct democratic instruments, with the inclusion of positive referendums in the constitution, the actual introduction of which, however, requires a more precise constitutional law. In the case of propositive referendums, the citizens entitled to vote are allowed to vote directly on the acceptance or rejection of a proposal, while in the context of the existing abrogative referendums only the repeal of a law is voted on.
  • Voting laws must be examined by the Constitutional Court to ensure minority influence in parliament.
  • War can only be declared by the Chamber of Deputies, rather than by the acceptance of both chambers. However, the decision must be adopted with an absolute instead of a simple majority.

Positioning of the political parties

Election poster of the Partito Democratico

In addition to the authors of the reforms from the Partito Democratico (PD), the larger center parties of the Italian parliament, the NCD ( Nuovo Centrodestra ) and UdC ( Unione di Centro ), united in the Area popular (AP) alliance, initially supported the constitutional amendments as members of the government ; However, the UdC changed its position and finally let the alliance formed with the NCD in 2014 break. The left-wing Christian Democrats of the Centro Democratico (CD) also supported the adoption of the constitutional amendment. The liberal parties Scelta Civica , Italia dei Valori (IdV) and Radicali Italiani (RI) also campaigned for acceptance.

The five-star movement ( MoVimento 5 Stelle ) under Beppe Grillo , which had also distanced itself politically from the European Union, established itself as the strongest opponent of the reforms . Other opponents of the reforms are primarily the regional and right-wing parties such as the Lega Nord (LN), Forza Italia (FI) and Fratelli d'Italia , but also left-wing parties such as Sinistra Italiana and the Partito della Rifondazione Comunista (PRC).

Results

Voting result in the provinces and metropolitan cities of Italy (the province of Sud Sardegna and the metropolitan city of Cagliari were merged according to the procedure of the Italian Ministry of the Interior)
Voting results by municipalities. Major rejection Major approval No election in the communities that were mainly affected by the earthquake in central Italy in 2016 .




Nationwide result

Results number in% of the valid
votes 		in% of all
votes 		in% of
eligible voters
Yes 13,432,187 40.89 40.41 26.46
No 19,419,528 59.11 58.42 38.25
Blank ballot papers 83,417 - 00.25 00.16
Invalid ballot 306,952 - 00.92 00.60
Non-assignable ballot papers 1,761 - 00.01 00.00
Total voters 33.243.845 - - 65.47
Eligible voters 50.773.284 - - 100.00

Results by region

The following list shows the results by region .

region Voters Participation be right Share of votes
Yes No Yes No
Abruzzo 1,052,049 68.7% 255.022 461.167 35.6% 64.4%
Aosta Valley 99,735 71.9% 30,568 40.116 43.2% 56.8%
Apulia 3,280,745 61.7% 659.354 1,348,573 32.8% 67.2%
Basilicata 467,000 62.9% 98,924 191,081 34.1% 65.9%
Calabria 1,553,741 54.4% 276.384 561,557 33.0% 67.0%
Campania 4,566,905 58.9% 839,692 1,827,768 31.5% 68.5%
Emilia-Romagna 3,326,910 75.9% 1,262,484 1,242,992 50.4% 49.6%
Friuli Venezia Giulia 952.493 72.5% 267.379 417.732 39.0% 61.0%
Lazio 4,402,145 69.2% 1,108,768 1,914,397 36.7% 63.3%
Liguria 1,241,618 69.7% 342,671 515,777 39.9% 60.1%
Lombardy 7,480,375 74.2% 2,453,095 3,058,051 44.5% 55.5%
Brands 1,189,180 72.8% 385,877 472,656 45.0% 55.0%
Molise 256,600 63.9% 63,695 98,728 39.2% 60.8%
Piedmont 3,396,378 72.0% 1,055,043 1,368,507 43.5% 56.5%
Sardinia 1,375,845 62.5% 237.280 616.791 27.8% 72.2%
Sicily 4,031,871 56.7% 642.980 1,619,828 28.4% 71.6%
Trentino-South Tyrol 792.503 72.2% 305.473 261,473 53.9% 46.1%
Tuscany 2,854,162 74.4% 1,105,769 1,000,008 52.5% 47.5%
Umbria 675.610 73.5% 240.346 251.908 48.8% 51.2%
Veneto 3,725,399 76.7% 1,078,883 1,756,144 38.1% 61.9%

Voters abroad

The Italians living abroad voted in 4 voting areas ( ripartizione ). The whole of Russia, Turkey and Cyprus also belonged to the 'Europe' voting area. Of the 4,052,341 people entitled to vote worldwide, 1,246,342 (30.75%) exercised their right to vote.

Worldwide referendum results - voting behavior of Italians abroad by country. The votes of the Italian scientific staff at research stations in the Antarctic were counted in New Zealand .
Results in the 4 worldwide voting areas
Voting area Registered
voters 		Yes No blank
ballot papers 		invalid
ballot papers 		not
assignable 		Participation
(%)
% number % number
Africa, Asia, Australia,
Oceania, Antarctica		 220.252 59.7 37,644 40.3 25,433 518 6,683 12 31.9
South America 1,291,065 71.9 207.144 28.1 80.831 4.211 36,064 311 25.4
North and Central America 374.987 62.2 62,816 37.8 38.113 521 15,458 76 31.2
Europe (with Russia,
Turkey, Cyprus)		 2,166,037 62.4 415.068 37.6 249,876 4,048 60,983 134 33.7
Total abroad 4,052,341 64.7 722.672 35.3 394.253 9,298 119.188 533 30.7

The following table shows the results for the four German-speaking countries in Central Europe. 393,002 of 1,107,880 eligible voters voted (35.5%).

Results in the German-speaking countries
country Registered
voters 		Yes No blank
ballot papers 		invalid
ballot papers 		not
assignable 		Participation
(%)
% number % number
GermanyGermany Germany 581,433 61.0 92,321 39.0 58,985 859 16,771 74 29.1
SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland 482,539 64.3 119,462 37.8 66,457 1,270 17,039 28 42.3
LuxembourgLuxembourg Luxembourg 22.097 67.5 5,561 32.5 2,679 71 1,207 0 43.1
AustriaAustria Austria 21,811 63.0 5,446 35.8 3,205 41 1,360 5 46.1

What was noticeable about the votes abroad was the very high proportion of invalid ballot papers (9.6% worldwide, 9.9% in Germany, 13.5% in Austria, 8.3% in Switzerland, 12.7% in Luxembourg).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Referendum failed: Renzi announces resignation on tagesschau.de, December 5, 2016.
  2. ↑ Referendum on constitutional reform in Italy: another mood test for the Prodi government, by Stefan von Kempis, Beatrice Gorawantschy, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, June 28, 2006: http://www.kas.de/wf/de/33.8667/
  3. ^ Criticism and reform proposal by the former President of the Italian Constitutional Court , Gustavo Zagrebelsky , from May 4, 2014 on micormega-online (July 14, 2014)
  4. ↑ unita.tv October 12, 2015: Riforma del Senato, il sì dei costituzionalisti: “Svolta attesa da decenni”
  5. ↑ sueddeutsche.de October 13, 2015: Architect of the Italian constitutional reform
  6. ↑ corriere.it January 11, 2016: Riforma Costituzione: la Camera approva, testo torna al Senato
  7. ↑ repubblica.it April 12, 2016: Riforma costituzionale, via libera della Camera: addio al bicameralismo perfetto
  8. ↑ La Repubblica online September 26, 2016: Referendum, il governo ha deciso: si vota il 4 dicembre.
  9. ↑ Camera.It - XVII Legislatura - Lavori - Progetti di legge - Scheda del progetto di legge . Retrieved September 27, 2016.
  10. ↑ Affari e costituzionali ordinamento della Repubblica: Riforme costituzionali website of the Camera dei deputati, accessed on December 1 2016
  11. ↑ The new South Tyrolean daily newspaper: Italy chooses
  12. ↑ J. Perelli (Nov. 2016). Constitutional referendum in Italy: Renzi hopes, but the Lega Nord also has Telepolis policy. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  13. ↑ a b Sintesi scrutini. (PDF) p. 70 , archived from the original on December 5, 2016 ; Retrieved December 5, 2016 (Italian).
  14. ↑ a b Referendum 2016: Estero. Italian Ministry of the Interior, accessed December 6, 2016 .