Referendum on the cut of parliamentarians, who votes Yes and who No

“Approved the text of the constitutional law on” Modification of articles 56, 57 and 59 of the Constitution on the reduction of the number of parliamentarians “approved by Parliament and published in the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic – General Series – n. 240 of October 12, 2019? “

How did the vote come about? The constitutional law for the reduction of parliamentarians was voted with a large majority (553 in favor of 567 voters, with only 14 opposing opinions) on October 8, 2019. The provision should have entered into force in January 2020. Being a reform of the Constitution, the Chambers – in case the vote has not reached a majority of two thirds in each part – can request that the decision be confirmed by the population. Using this principle, 71 senators, out of the 64 required, which is equivalent to a fifth of the total number of members, signed up to hold a referendum. The vote was originally scheduled for March 29 – the date has been postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Yes front – When the law reached Parliament in October 2019, all parties agreed to the cut. In previous votes, however, the Democratic Party had repeatedly spoken in favor of No. A negative opinion in the past had also come from the political right, when in 2016 it opposed the proposed constitutional body reform. by then Prime Minister Matteo. Renzi. Numerous prominent political figures, including Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and various party secretaries, spoke in favor of Yes to the referendum.

The No Front – Although the main majority and opposition actors (5-Star Movement, Democratic Party, Lega, Forza Italia and Fratelli d’Italia) have openly aligned themselves with Yes, there is no shortage of “dissidents” who have decided to ignore the indications of the secretariats and vote against the cut of parliamentarians. Only Acción by Carlo Calenda and + Europa by Emma Bonino have decided to do partisan propaganda in favor of No. Mattero Renzi, on the other hand, he did not favor either of the two options, leaving the voters of Italia Viva free to vote.