1999 Italian referendum

A referendum on the electoral law was held in Italy on 18 April 1999.[1] Voters were asked whether they approved of replacing the mixed-member proportional representation electoral system (in which 75% of seats in Parliament were elected in single-member constituencies and 25% by compensatory proportional representation) with one based solely on single-member constituencies, with the 25% of seats instead allocated to the second-placed in the constituencies with the most votes.[2] The proposal was supported by larger parties, but opposed by smaller ones.[2] Although the proposal was approved by 91.5% of voters, turnout was only 49.6%, resulting in the referendum being invalidated as the threshold of 50% was not passed.[3]

Results

Choice	Votes	%
For	21,161,866	91.5
Against	1,960,022	8.5
Invalid/blank votes	1,293,576	–
Total	24,447,521	100
Registered voters/turnout	49,309,060	49.6
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1049 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Sunday referendum in Italy to decide on voting system World Socialist Website, 19 April 1999
3. Nohlen & Stöver, p1061