Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

POLITICS

Italy approves slashing number of MPs in referendum

Ballots were cast nationwide for a referendum on cutting parliament numbers, which passed easily with alost 70 percent voting in favour.

Published: 21 September 2020 15:53 CEST
Updated: 22 September 2020 09:18 CEST
Italy approves slashing number of MPs in referendum
People vote at a polling station in Florence with Covid-19 precations in place. Photo: AFP
Italians voted in the constitutional referendum on Sunday and Monday, at the same time as local and regional elections were held.
 
Voters were asked whether to approve an amendment to the the Italian Constitution, which would reduce the number of MPs in parliament from 630 to 400 in the lower house, and from 315 to 200 in the Senate.
 
The yes vote prevailed with 69.64%, compared to 30,36% fort the no vote, the Ansa news agency reported.
 
Meanwhile regional elections were also held in seven regions: Veneto, Campania, Tuscany, Liguria, Marche, Puglia and Valle d'Aosta.
 
A center-right coalition led by the once-powerful League leader Matteo Salvini won in three Italian regions but failed to snatch the left-wing stronghold of Tuscany, where the close-fought battle was seen as decisive for the country – and for Salvini.

READ ALSO: Italy's government boosted as the right fails to take Tuscany in key vote

The right triumphed instead in its usual strongholds of Veneto and Liguria, as well as taking Marche.

This means 15 of Italy's regions are now ruled by the right-wing coalition, which is made up of Salvini's league,  Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia, and Fratelli d'Italia, led by Gioirgia Meloni.
 

But the defeat in the high-profile battle for the left-wing bastion of Tuscany, ruled by the left for 50 years, came as a blow for the right-wing coalition and a boost to the national government

 
The two-day vote went ahead despite a threatened resurgence of the coronavirus in Italy, which was the first country in Europe to go into lockdown and is now registering more than 1,500 new cases daily.

 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

POLITICS

Anger as Italy allows pro-life activists into abortion clinics

The Italian parliament has passed a measure by Giorgia Meloni's hard-right government allowing anti-abortion activists to enter consultation clinics, sparking outrage from opposition parties.

Published: 24 April 2024 13:05 CEST
Anger as Italy allows pro-life activists into abortion clinics

The measure adopted by the Senate late on Tuesday evening allows regional authorities to permit groups deemed to have “a qualified experience supporting motherhood” to have access to women considering abortions at clinics run by the state-funded healthcare system.

The government says the amendment merely fulfils the original aim of the country’s 1978 law legalising abortion, which says clinics can collaborate with such groups in efforts to support motherhood.

Pressure groups in several regions led by the right are already allowed access to consultation clinics, and the measure may see more join them.

Some regions, such as Marche, which is led by Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, have also restricted access to the abortion pill.

Elly Schlein, leader of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), slammed the new law as “a heavy attack on women’s freedom”, while Five Star Movement MPs said Italy had “chosen to take a further step backwards”.

READ ALSO: What will Italy’s right-wing election victory mean for abortion rights?

Meloni has repeatedly said she has no intention of changing the abortion law, known as Law 194, but critics say she is attempting to make it more difficult to terminate pregnancies.

There have long been concerns that the election of Meloni’s hard-right coalition would further threaten womens’ reproductive rights in Italy.

Accessing safe abortions in Italy was already challenging as a majority of gynaecologists – about 63 percent according to official 2021 figures – refuse to perform them on moral or religious grounds.

In several parts of the country, including the regions of Sicily, Basilicata, Abruzzo, Molise and the province of Bolzano, the percentage of gynaecologists refusing to perform abortions is over 80 percent.

SHOW COMMENTS