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Italian voters have rejected Giorgia Meloni’s proposed overhaul of the country’s judiciary, an embarrassing setback for the right-wing prime minister in her long-running battle with hostile courts.
With most votes counted on Monday, the “no” side led with 53.7 per cent, capping a fraught national referendum on constitutional reforms that critics said would weaken judicial independence.
The turnout of nearly 59 per cent was much higher than expected, in a sign that Italians heeded the opposition’s calls to safeguard the rule of law.
Meloni expressed “regret at a missed opportunity to modernise Italy” but vowed to carry out the remainder of her term.
“This does not change our commitment to continue working with seriousness and determination for the good of the nation and to honour the mandate entrusted to us,” she said in a video posted on social media.
Still, the result deals a blow to the prime minister who spent a lot of political capital campaigning for the changes. Meloni said several times she would not resign if voters rejected the proposed justice reform, unlike one of her predecessors, Matteo Renzi, who stepped down after a failed referendum.
“We have a weakened Meloni, but she has acted very much to prepare for this defeat,” said Lorenzo Castellani, a professor of political science at Rome’s Luiss University.
Ernesto Di Giovanni, an independent political consultant with ties to the centre-right, said the results should be a wake-up call to Meloni’s government, as it probably reflects a wider public dissatisfaction with her performance ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections.
“This vote is not a vote on the spirit of the meaning of the referendum: it was a vote of confidence on the government,” he said. “They have to understand: it’s a real signal that they have to worry about.”
But he said Meloni’s government had also erred by seeking to amend the constitution through a national referendum instead of drafting a justice reform that could have won bipartisan support in parliament.
Giuseppe Conte, leader of the opposition Five Star movement, said the outcome reflected widespread frustration with the Meloni government.
“People want to turn the page, signalling a demand for a different kind of politics — one more attentive to people’s needs and less focused on shielding politicians from investigation,” he said. “Let’s be honest: this is an eviction notice for this government after four years, and it is a strong — very strong — political signal.”
Meloni has often expressed her anger towards the judiciary, which has rejected some of her government’s flagship policies, including her attempt to detain asylum seekers at centres in Albania and to build a €13bn bridge to Sicily.
The amendments sought to overhaul the magistrates’ self-governing structure and establish a new disciplinary body, something that Meloni and other reform proponents argued was required to ensure a fair trial.
But opponents, including the opposition parties and magistrates, argued that the changes would do little to address the main issue in Italy — the slowness of judicial proceedings, particularly in civil cases.
Instead, they warned that the changes could allow politicians to exert greater influence over the judiciary, much like Meloni’s Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orbán has done in his country.
Additional reporting by Giuliana Ricozzi