The citizenship referendum in Italy fails after voters, Georgia Meloni, responded to a boycott

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An Italian referendum failed to grant citizenship faster to migrants due to the low turnout, as voters responded to the invitation of Prime Minister Georgia Meloni to boycott the poll.

About 30 percent of the qualified voters participated in the two -day referendum, which sought half of the time that migrants should live in Italy before they could seek citizenship, according to the Italian Ministry of Interior. At least 50 percent of the voting voters.

The referendum, backed by the left opposition and active groups, sought to cancel a law dating back to 1992, which imposed 10 years of residency for foreigners from outside the European Union, to increase previous requirements for five years.

Supporters said 2.5 million foreign immigrants in Italy for five years or more could have been eligible to apply for citizenship immediately.

Among those who voted, more than 65 percent supported the change and less than 35 percent of it, with the counting of about two -thirds of the road.

When it became clear that the referendum has failed to obtain a legal quorum, the right -wing deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini said that its league party would pressure to tighten the laws in order to make naturalization more difficult.

“Citizenship is not a gift,” said Salvini on Monday. “We ask for tougher and more severe rules to be Italian citizens. A few years of residency is not enough.”

Italy is home to an increasing number of children of migrant fathers who grew up and educated in the country, but they remain foreigners from a legal perspective. About 11 percent of all children who attend Italian schools are currently foreign citizens.

The referendum campaign was defended through the hot debate last year when Italy won a Olympic gold medal in women’s volleyball with a team that was the star of the African immigrant girls.

While anger prompted some to an invitation A faster path to nationality For migrant children who grew up in Italy, those in the far right believe that these are the descendants of immigrants cannot be considered real Italians.

Meloni and its coalition partners-the Salvini League and the right-wing party, Foreza Italy-have ignored the referendum, and called on the voters to refrain from refraining from refraining from working.

Meloni herself went to a polling station on Sunday, but she refused to vote.

The Prime Minister did not comment on the results on Monday afternoon, but her brothers from the Italian party tweeted a picture of the opposition party leaders with the words “I have been lost.”

Supporters of the referendum expressed their disappointment, but they said they will continue to fight for an easier and easier path to naturalization that can currently last at least 15 years.

“When we started this referendum, we already knew that this is just a small step to try to change the law of citizenship,” said Deepika, born in Indian, 26, who arrived in Italy when she was nine years old.

“We are very ready because the battle and movement should continue,” added Salhan, a president on the right side of history, a group of invitation that drives the reform of the comprehensive immigration law.

The league and Foreza Italy moved to social media on Sunday to claim that the Italians spent a sunny day on the beach, instead of wasting their time at the polling stations.

The government broadcaster in Italy, Rai, and other major media channels and newspapers were near to overwhelm the referendum coverage, which were barely mentioned on the front pages of national newspapers on Sunday – on the day that opinion polls opened.

“Many people did not know that there was a referendum or they got to know this only the previous day,” said Qalahan. “There was no kind of information or advertising around it from institutions.”

Lorenzo Brigliasco, the founder of Youtrend, the Italian political polling agency, said immigration has become a stunning rod in the country’s severe party policy, as the left opposition in the center described it as a referendum on the Melonian government.

“The middle left clearly pointed to the fact that this vote was a way to show Meloni’s government that they are no longer the majority in the country anymore,” said Pregliasco. “It ended with the politicization of the discussion a lot.”