2001 Italian constitutional referendum

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 on issues including agriculture, education, healthcare and taxation.[2] The proposals were approved by 64.2% of voters.[3]

2001 Italian constitutional referendum
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  %
Yes 10,438,419 64.21%
No 5,819,187 35.79%
Valid votes 16,257,606 96.81%
Invalid or blank votes 535,685 3.19%
Total votes 16,793,291 100.00%
Eligible to vote/turnout 49,454,954 33.96%

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 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 isn't 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.

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Results
Choice Votes %
Yes10,438,41964.2
No5,819,18735.8
Invalid/blank votes535,685–
Total16,793,291100
Registered voters/turnout49,454,95434.0
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

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
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