"The Italians have decided. And we respect this decision. We will move forward, as we have always done, responsibly, with determination and with respect for the Italian people and for Italy", said Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, after the results of the count of over two-thirds of the sections in Italy showed that the "No" vote prevailed in the referendum on judicial reform, Italian media reported.
According to the partial results, the "No" vote leads with 53.82 percent against 46.18 percent for the "Yes" vote with ballots counted from over two-thirds of the sections. The count is being monitored in real time by the ANSA agency. The voter turnout, according to final data was nearly 59 percent.
According to Lucio Malan, head of the parliamentary group of the “Italian Brothers“, the party of Prime Minister Meloni, the government has nothing to reproach itself for. They promised a reform of the judicial system in their election program, it was passed in parliament, then it was proposed in a referendum. According to Malan, some people attributed to this reform a significance that it did not have.
According to Galeazzo Biniami, head of the parliamentary group of the “Italian Brothers“ in the Chamber of Deputies, the outcome of the referendum does not decide the fate of the government. “I have known Giorgia Meloni for some time, I do not remember a political battle from which she withdrew. So I do not expect her to do anything different from what she has always done,“ he said he.
“We did it! Long live the constitution“, wrote in “Ex“ former Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and leader of the opposition movement “5 Star Movement“, which was in opposition to the judicial reform.
“The game is essentially over. “No“ won to the surprise of the ruling party. Today a huge political fact happened and when the people speak, the parliament must listen“, said former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. He stressed that the failure of the judicial reform was an important stage for Prime Minister Meloni, who had claimed to be “blessed with the support of the people“. “Today the message is very loud and clear and this is a resounding defeat“, said Renzi, who is the leader of the centrist party “Italy Viva“. According to him, the defeat is threefold – first for the motives for the judicial reform, then for the entire government and finally for the arrogant way in which the rulers wanted to carry out the reform“.
According to Maurizio Landini, head of the largest union in Italy “Italian Confederation of Labor”, the outcome of the referendum means that the constitution is not changing and that a new spring has come for the country. He called on all those who are happy with this fact to demonstrate today in Piazza “Barberini“ in Rome. Landini called the victory of the “No” in the referendum a message of unity and a good day for Italy.
At the same time, the head of the Italian magistrates' union - the National Association of Magistrates - Cesare Parodi resigned. He said he was doing so for personal reasons reasons.
In Naples, magistrates sang the anti-fascist song Bella Ciao when it became clear that the "No" vote in the referendum had won.