‘Shameful': Outrage in Italy as PM Meloni says she won't vote in June referendums
Meloni broke her months-long silence over the upcoming June 8th-9th referendums during official celebrations for Italy's Republic Day on Monday.
'I'll go to the polling station, but won't pick up the ballots,' she told reporters in Rome.
'It's one of the options,' she added.
Under Italy's referendum laws, voters can head to their assigned polling stations on polling day and refuse to pick up the ballots used for voting.
If they do so, they are considered 'non-voters', meaning that they won't count towards the quorum – the minimum voter turnout (over 50 percent) needed for referendum results to be valid.
Meloni's announcement sparked cries of outrage from Italy's centre-left opposition, which strongly backs the June referendums, including a closely-watched vote on easing the country's rules on applying for citizenship through residency.
Giuseppe Conte, the leader of Italy's populist Five-Star Movement (M5S), called Meloni's words 'shameful', saying that the premier's decision to abstain from voting was 'outrageous, albeit not surprising'.
Elly Schlein, the head of Italy's centre-left Democratic Party (PD), accused Meloni of 'mocking Italians'.
'Instead of saying whether she's in favour of or against the five questions on labour and citizenship, she's confirmed that she wants to scuttle the referendums [...] because not picking up the ballots is equivalent to not voting,' she said.
Several members of Italy's centre-left coalition argued that Meloni's announcement on Monday laid bare her fears that the referendums may reach the required voter turnout.
'If even the Prime Minister feels compelled to announce that she won't pick up the ballots, it can only mean one thing: they're afraid that the quorum might be reached,' Angelo Bonelli, head of the Greens-Left Alliance (AVS), told Ansa.
Meloni's words came after multiple members of her government, which strongly opposes the proposed labour and citizenship reforms, publicly called on voters to boycott the vote.
Senate Speaker Ignazio La Russa, from Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, said in late May he would "campaign to ensure that people stay home" on polling day.
Similarly, Igor Iezzi, an MP from Deputy PM Matteo Salvini's anti-immigration League party, said that abstention was his party's official position, adding that the "goal is to prevent the quorum from being reached."
The government's attempts to encourage abstention have prompted vehement reactions from opposition members.
Riccardo Magi, leader of the +Europa party, said that the hard-right coalition's 'coordinated strategy' to boycott the referendums shows 'a lack of awareness of the institutions and role they hold'.
Italy needs 'a democratic rebellion' to fight abstentionism, he added.
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