Meloni breaks silence and wades into debate on upcoming referendums with controversial remark.
Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni sparked outrage on Monday by saying that she would not vote in the five referendums being held in Italy on 8 and 9 June.
Meloni’s right-wing coalition government is not in favour of the referendums, in particular a landmark vote on easing the nation’s citizenship rules, however the premier had been silent on the matter until this week.
“I will go to the polling station but I will not collect the ballot” – Meloni told reporters ahead of the Festa della Repubblica military parade in Rome – “It is one of the options”.
In order for referendum results in Italy to be valid, voter turnout or “quorum” must exceed 50 per cent plus one, meaning that more than 25 million voters will need to cast their vote.
Under the “non-voting voter” tactic suggested by Meloni, a voter can show up at the polling station and refuse to collect their ballot.
In this way they are not considered a voter, they do not receive a stamp on their electoral card and therefore do not contribute to the quorum.
Meloni’s remarks triggered an instant backlash from the centre-left opposition, with Giuseppe Conte, leader of the Movimento 5 Stelle (M5S), describing her stance as “outrageous but not surprising”.
Elly Schlein, leader of the centre-left Partito Democratico (PD), accused Meloni of “making a fool” of the Italian people and proving that she “wants to scuttle the referendums”.
Meloni’s opposition centres mainly on the referendum on citizenship which was granted after an online petition – promoted by Riccardo Magi of the centre-left +Europa party – surpassed its goal of half a million signatures.
The referendum aims to cut from 10 to five the number of years of continual legal residence in Italy required for non-EU citizens to apply for Italian citizenship.
Magi, who also slammed Meloni’s comments on Monday, has described the citizenship referendum as “a battle of civilisation”.
In a post on X, Magi wrote: “A YES for a law on fair citizenship, which does not discriminate against those born or raised in Italy, those who live here permanently and contribute to our country every day but are treated as second-class citizens”.
The government is largely promoting abstention as a way to prevent the quorum from being reached in the referendums, which in addition to a vote on easing citizenship include four questions related to labour reform.
The work-related referendums were promoted by the CGIL trade union, with the support of the PD, the M5S and the left-wing Greens and Left Alliance (AVS).
These four referendum questions propose to restore stronger protections against unlawful dismissals, remove the cap on compensation for unfair dismissals in small businesses, reintroduce stricter regulations on fixed-term employment contracts, and increase employer accountability for workplace safety.
Maurizio Landini, head of the CGIL, said last month: “I find it totally dangerous and wrong to invite people not to go out and vote.”
In a statement on Tuesday, the union condemned a large banner that appeared in front of its Rome headquarters encouraging “everyone to go the beach on 8-9 June”, along with the message “Fuck CGIL”.
The union’s secretary general for Rome and Lazio, Natale Di Cola, reported the incident to police “to express our concern about the climate of intimidation that is mounting in these last days of the referendum campaign.”
