Italians living abroad were also given the opportunity to vote on the controversial judicial reform proposed by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government. Italian Belgians clearly rejected the reform.
According to the final results, 61.35% of Italians in Belgium voted "no" in the referendum – a higher percentage than in Italy itself.
According to figures from the Italian Ministry of the Interior, 43,506 of the total 254,590 eligible Italian-Belgian voters took part in the vote. That represents a turnout of just over 17%.
Of that group, there were 24,272 "no" votes (61.35%) against the constitutional reform, compared with 15,288 "yes" votes (38.65%). The remaining percentage consists of invalid, blank and disputed ballot papers.
The result is not surprising. In the 2022 parliamentary elections, Italian Belgians therefore gave greater support to the main opposition party, which had clearly spoken out against the reform.
The centre-left Partito Democratico secured 46.32% of the vote in the Senate and 34.43% in the Chamber of Deputies, compared to 23.99% and 23.89% respectively for the right-wing coalition of Fratelli d’Italia, Lega and Forza Italia, which is currently in power.
Taking into account the results in Italy and all other countries, 53.23% of Italians rejected the reform of the legal system.
The defeat is a striking political setback for Meloni, who has led a coalition government that has been unusually stable for Italy since October 2022. However, she has categorically ruled out resigning.
