1991 Italian electoral law referendum

A referendum on the electoral law was held in Italy on 9 June 1991.[1] Voters were asked whether the clause of the law on the number of preference votes should be scrapped.[2] The result was 95.6% in favour, with a turnout of 65.1%.[2]

Background

In 1990 a group of reformers, led by Mario Segni, allied with the Radical Party began calling for change to a political system that had seen the Christian Democracy and the Italian Communist Party emerge as the two largest parties in almost every election since World War II. They argued that this caused chronic inefficiency and that the adoption of the Westminster system would lead to a period of political strength. Initially they promoted a referendum on abolishing multiple preference votes in the open list proportional representation system used since 1946. They argued that the system had led to minor lobbies inside parties, with group of candidates allied against other candidates of the same list, causing instability.

Results

Choice	Votes	%
For	26,896,979	95.57
Against	1,247,908	4.43
Invalid/blank votes	1,464,748	–
Total	29,609,635	100
Registered voters/turnout	47,377,843	62.50
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Popular vote For   95.57% Against   4.43%

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1048 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Nohlen & Stöver, p1058