The Italian Prime Minister, Mr Massimo D'Alema, has reaffirmed his government's commitment to electoral reform, even though an electoral reform referendum on Sunday failed to meet the legal quorum. Sunday's referendum, calling for the abolition of the 25 per cent quota of lower house seats decided by proportional representation, was declared null and void after only 49.6 per cent of the 49,307,647-strong electorate turned out to vote. Under the Italian constitution, the result of a referendum is legally binding only when 50 per cent plus one of the electorate votes.
The referendum, which was supported by Italy's major parties, including Democratic Left, Forza Italia and Alleanza Nazionale, had drawn fervent support from a number of prominent Italians, such as European Commission president-elect Mr Romano Prodi, European Commissioner Emma Bonino, electoral reformist Senator Mario Segni, and the former anti-corruption prosecutor Senator Antonio Di Pietro. The referendum's supporters had argued that the abolition of the 25 per cent proportional representation quota represented an important step along the road to a bipolar Italian democracy that would end the era of revolvingdoor Italian governments, reshaping the current confused political landscape in which a number of smaller parties end up holding the balance of power in shaky coalitions. Both the 1994 centre-right government of Forza Italia leader Mr Silvio Berlusconi and the 1996-98 centre-left government of Mr Prodi were brought down when electoral allies abandoned the ruling coalition.
In 1994 the Northern League pulled out of Mr Berlusconi's government, and Mr Prodi's government fell last October when the ultra-left Rifondazione Communista withdrew its parliamentary support. The current centre-left government, led by Mr D'Alema, is Italy's 56th of the post-war period.
Concern about the Kosovo crisis, bad weather and electoral weariness - this was the 28th referendum vote since 1991 - may have all contributed to the low poll. A further contributory factor was the campaign mounted by smaller parties such as the Northern League, Rifondazione Communista and the Greens, calling on voters to stay at home and thus invalidate the vote, a campaign that seems to have been successful judging both from the low turnout and from the actual result, which saw the "yes" vote (in favour of the abolition of proportional referendum) polling an overwhelming 91.5 per cent.
"A great opportunity to reform Italy has been lost," said Senator Segni, one of the leading politicians who promoted the campaign for a yes vote. "We don't know when another chance like this will come around again."
"This has put us back into the mire," far-right National Alliance leader Mr Gianfranco Fini told Italian television.
Early editions of most national newspapers carried the wrong headlines yesterday, declaring a victory for the yes campaign based on projections from the Abacus polling organisation.