General Information
In March 2026, voters in Italy are taking part in a constitutional referendum pertaining to judicial reforms. The proposed revisions would more strongly separate career paths for judges and prosecutors and introduce a new court to handle judicial misconduct cases, amongst other measures.
- Referendum Text in Original Italian: “Approvate il testo della legge di revisione degli artt. 87, decimo comma, 102, primo comma, 104, 105, 106, terzo comma, 107, primo comma, e 110 della Costituzione approvata dal Parlamento e pubblicata nella Gazzetta Ufficiale del 30 ottobre 2025 con il titolo "Norme in materia di ordinamento giurisdizionale e di istituzione della Corte disciplinare"?”
- Referendum Text in English (Informal Translation): "Do you approve the text of the law revising Articles 87, paragraph 10, 102, paragraph 1, 104, 105, 106, paragraph 3, 107, paragraph 1, and 110 of the Constitution, approved by Parliament and published in the Official Journal of October 30, 2025, under the title "Provisions on the Judicial System and the Establishment of the Disciplinary Court"?"
- Chief of State: Sergio MATTARELLA (since 3 February 2015)
- Head of Government: Giorgia MELONI (since 22 October 2022)
- Assembly: bicameral Parliament (Parlamento italiano) comprised of a 400-seat Chamber of Deputies (Camera dei Deputati) and a 200-seat Senate of the Republic (Senato della Repubblica).
- The President is indirectly elected via a two-thirds vote of parliament. Presidents serve a 7-year term. There are no constitutionally-mandated term limits.
- 392 members of the Chamber of Deputies are directly elected from population-based electoral districts. The remaining 8 members are elected by Italians abroad. Members serve 5-year terms. There are no constitutionally-mandated term limits.
- Members of the Senate are elected from regional constituencies, where the number of seats is allocated by the population of the region. Molise is allocated 2 Senators, Valle d’Aosta is allocated 1 Senator, and all other regions are guaranteed at least 3 Senators. 4 seats are also allocated for overseas constituencies. All directly elected members serve 5-year terms, and there are no constitutionally-mandated term limits. Former Presidents of the Republic are ex officio members of the Senate for life unless they renounce this role. Finally, a sitting President may appoint citizens to life terms in the senate in recognition of “outstanding merits in social, scientific, artistic and literary fields” (Article 59 of the Constitution). There may be no more than 5 life term Senators at any given time.
The last referendum was held on June 8, 2025. The referenda covered 5 different provisions relating to labor laws and legal residency periods for non-EU foreigners seeking citizenship. Voter turnout was 31%.
Information for Voters:
Speciale elezioni / Election Special (in Italian)
Country Context:
- Population: 58,952,704 (2024 est.)
- Registered Voters: 45,997,942 (2025 est.)
- V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index Score: 0.803 (2024)
- V-Dem Regimes of the World Classification: Liberal Democracy (2024)
- Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 0.915, Very High, Rank 29
Gender Data:
- Female Population: 30,139,602 (2024 est.)
- CEDAW Status: Signed 17 July 1980, Ratified 10 June 1985
- Gender Quota: Yes, legislated quotas that require neither gender represent more than 60% of the total number of candidates.
- Female Candidates in this election: n/a
- Number of Female Legislators (pre-election): 131 out of 400 (32.8%) in the lower house and 75 out of 205 (36.6%) in the upper house.
- Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: 9.2 (2023)
Disability Data:
- CRPD Status: Signed 30 March 2007, Ratified 15 May 2009
- Projected population with a disability: 9,432,433 (2024 est.)