Has Italy rejected the referendum path to change? The failed referenda of May 2000

Journal of Modern Italian Studies

Volumn 6, Issue 1, 2001, Pages 38-56

  Fabbrini, Sergio ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TRENTO   (Italy)

Author keywords

Berlusconi; Electoral reform; Italy; Politics; Referendum

Indexed keywords

EID: 18244366802     PISSN: 1354571X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/13545710010025907     Document Type: Review

References (11)

1. The first clause of Article 75 of the Italian constitution states: 'A popular referendum to deliberate the abrogation, total or partial, of a law, or an act having the force of law, shall be called when 500,000 voters or five Regional Councils request it.' Under Law no. 352, of 25 May 1970, which made recourse to referenda possible only twenty-two years after the constitution became effective, it is up to the Constitutional Court to establish the admissibility of questions put to referendum. The Court's decisions are to be issued after the referendum's proponents have collected the required number of signatures.
2. The law is semi-majoritarian because it provides for the election of 75 per cent of the members of parliament by the plurality system of 'first past the post' and the other 25 per cent by the proportional vote system applied to the list within electoral constituencies including different single-member districts. See S. Fabbrini, 'Political change without institutional transformation: what can we learn from the Italian crisis of the 1990s?', International Political Science Review 2 (2000): 173-96.
3. On this, see G. Sartori, Come sbagliare le riforme (Bologna: Il Mulino, 1995).
4. See P. Segatti, 'Quando un referendum fallisce', Il Mulino 383 (1999): 453-60.
5. Law of 25 May 1970, no. 352, Article 38: In the case that the result of the referendum is contrary to the abrogation of a law, or of an act having the force of law, or of single provisions of such, notice of the result shall be given and a request for a referendum to abrogate the same law, or act having the force of law, or the aforesaid provisions of such, cannot be brought within five years.
6. Article 75 of the constitution, in fact, states: 'Referenda on fiscal laws and the budget, amnesty and pardons, and authorization to ratify international treaties are not allowed.'
7. These included the Christian Democratic diaspora (the Popular Party, UDEUR and CDU) and the Social Democrats, the Northern League and RC.
8. On this point, I recommend the essay by M. Gilbert, 'Transforming Italy's institutions? the Bicameral Committee on Institutional Reform', Modern Italy 3 (1): 49-66.
9. See M. Donovan, 'La fine dell'anomalia referendaria in Italia?', in M. Gilbert and G. Pasquino (eds) Politica in Italia, Edizione 2000 (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2000), pp. 69-87.
10. See G. Pasquino, 'Reforming the Italian constitution', Journal of Modern Italian Studies 3 (1) (1998): 42-54
11. and S. Fabbrini, Tra pressioni e veti. Il cambiamento politico in Italia (Rome-Bari: Laterza, 2000).