2001 Italian constitutional referendum

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2001 Italian constitutional referendum
Flag of Italy.svg
7 October 2001

Approve the text of the constitutional law concerning "Amendments to Title V of the second part of the Constitution" approved by Parliament and published in the Official Gazette no. 59 of March 12, 2001?
Results
Choice
Votes %
Check-71-128-204-brightblue.svgYes10,438,41964.21%
Light brown x.svgNo5,819,18735.79%
Valid votes16,257,60696.81%
Invalid or blank votes535,6853.19%
Total votes16,793,291100.00%
Eligible to vote/turnout49,454,95433.96%

A constitutional referendum was held in Italy on 7 October 2001. [1] The amendment was supported by the Silvio Berlusconi government. Voters were asked whether they approved of amending the constitution to give more powers to the regions of Italy on issues including agriculture, education, healthcare, and taxation. [2] The proposals were approved by 64.2% of voters. [3]

The resulting constitutional changes are subject of conflicting opinions regarding the practical success of the amendment; in its most evident outcome, the text of Article 117 of the Constitution of Italy was inverted: whereas the original text listed the areas where the regions had legislative authority, where the regions and the state had shared authority, and leaving any other subject matter in the hands of the state, the new version of this article lists a series of subjects as areas of legislative authority of the state, with others having shared authority and anything that is not specifically mentioned being included in the legislative authority of the regions. [4] This solution, typical of federated states, was applied to Italy (a regional state) with marginal effective results due to a series of contributing factors that, in practice, reduced the regions' ability to legislate to almost the same level as before the constitutional reform.

Results

ChoiceVotes%
For10,438,41964.21
Against5,819,18735.79
Total16,257,606100.00
Valid votes16,257,60696.81
Invalid/blank votes535,6853.19
Total votes16,793,291100.00
Registered voters/turnout49,454,95433.96
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

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References

  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1049 ISBN   978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Italians vote on extending rights to the regions The Guardian, 8 October 2001
  3. Nohlen & Stöver, p1063
  4. Italians vote on extending rights to the regions The Guardian, 8 October 2001