Italians vote on citizenship and job protections amid low awareness and turnout concerns
ROME: Italians vote over two days starting Sunday on referendums that would make it easier for children born in Italy to foreigners to obtain citizenship, and on providing more job protections.
But apparent low public awareness risks rendering the vote invalid if turnout is not high enough.
Campaigners for the change in the citizenship law say it will help second-generation Italians born in the country to non-European Union parents better integrate into a culture they already see as theirs.
Italian singer Ghali, who was born in Milan to Tunisian parents, urged people to vote in an online post, noting that the referendum risks failure if at least 50% plus one of eligible voters don't turn out.
'I was born here, I always lived here, but I only received citizenship at the age of 18,'' Ghali said, urging a yes vote to reduce the residency requirement from 10 to five years.
The new rules, if passed, could affect about 2.5 million foreign nationals who still struggle to be recognized as citizens. The measures were proposed by Italy's main union and left-wing opposition parties.
Premier Giorgia Meloni has said she would show up at the polls but not cast a ballot — an action widely criticized by the left as antidemocratic, since it will not help reach the necessary threshold to make the vote valid.
'While some members of her ruling coalition have openly called for abstention, Meloni has opted for a more subtle approach,' said analyst Wolfango Piccoli of the Teneo consultancy based in London. 'It's yet another example of her trademark fence-sitting.''
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