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Change Your Life! |
Turnout is key in Italian vote on referendums |
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May 22, 2000
ROME, MAY 21 (AP) - In a vote where turnout was key, Italians cast ballots on Sunday to say yes or no to seven referendums, including one calling for reform of an electoral system blamed for decades of chronic government instability.
In the days going into the appointment, some surveys indicated that not enough citizens would vote to obtain the required quorum for the referendums to be valid.
Citizens can vote on all seven or just some of the referendums, although many are expected to skip the balloting entirely. To be valid, a referendum must be voted on by 50 percent-plus one of the eligible voters, who numbered closed to 49 million.
Last year, Italians also voted on a referendum calling for electoral change, but the turnout was 49.6 percent, not enough for a quorum.
The proposed electoral reform would do away with the remnants of Italy's proportional election system, which divvies up a quarter of the seats in Parliament in a way that gives even tiny parties enough clout to bring down a government.
Other important referendums deal with labor and justice issues. The labor reforms include one aimed at making Italy more competitive by giving employers in firing workers.
The justice reforms include one meant to curb the powers of investigating magistrates by barring them from also serving as judges in cases they investigated.
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