'No' leads Italy referendum in rebuke to Meloni: early results
Early results show the ‘No’ vote leading with 54 per cent in Italy’s justice referendum.
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ROME: Italians appear to have voted against a referendum on justice proposed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in what would be a major blow for the far-right leader, early results showed Monday (Mar 23).
With the ballots from more than a quarter of polling stations counted, the "No" vote in the constitutional referendum was ahead with more than 54 per cent.
Defeat over the controversial referendum would amount to a major setback for Meloni, who has led an uncharacteristically stable coalition government since Oct 2022 and faces parliamentary elections next year.
"If this is the result, and that seems likely, that's a bad, bad result. It means she has lost the Italian electorate on a major issue in her manifesto, and one of the key proposals of the right ... for the past 30 years," Daniele Albertazzi, professor of politics at the UK's University of Surrey told AFP.
"The next general election is not far now, and if the centre-left gets its act together, this is going to help them. Because it means that her image as unbeatable is not there any more."
Opposition parties campaigned for "No".
The referendum, voted Sunday and Monday, sought to separate the role of judges and prosecutors and change their oversight body in what the government cast as necessary measures to ensure impartiality in the courts.
The structural changes envisioned under the reform provoked accusations from the opposition that the government hoped to exert more control over independent judges, whose decisions they have often publicly attacked.
Critics also said the changes failed to address the real challenges facing Italy's dysfunctional justice system, from years-long trials and huge case backlogs to prison overcrowding.
Political analysts said the reform's complexity, not easily understood by many Italians, and the political rhetoric surrounding it meant the vote ultimately risked becoming a referendum on the Italian leader herself.
Meloni has dismissed suggestions that she would quit if her proposals were rejected.
"We did it! Long live the Constitution!" wrote the leader of the Five Star Movement, former premier Giuseppe Conte, who had campaigned against the referendum.
The final results are expected later Monday or Tuesday.
RALLYING CRY
Italy's right has championed the issue of judicial reform since it became a key rallying cry of late conservative prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who accused the magistrates bringing a slew of trials against him of left-wing bias.
Members of Meloni's government have similarly attacked the judiciary, with Justice Minister Carlo Nordio saying last month the reform would correct a "para-Mafia mechanism" operating within the body.
The reform would prevent judges and public prosecutors from switching roles, although only a tiny minority currently do so, addressing concerns that too-cosy relations between the two groups harm defendants.
The reform's most divisive part involves changes to the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSM), an oversight and disciplinary body whose members are elected by their peers and parliament.
The reform would divide the CSM into two separate councils, one for judges and one for prosecutors, and create a new 15-member disciplinary court.
Members would be drawn by lots, no longer voted by their peers, while a fraction of the judges chosen randomly for the court will come from lists compiled by parliament.
Dividing the powerful CSM would make its members more susceptible to political pressure, argued the "No" camp, which also said that using a lottery system to choose those to sit on the court undermined the concept of merit.
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