Italians went to the polls yesterday in a referendum on changing the constitution, but critics warn its proposals to give greater powers to the regions could endanger national unity.
Voting stations opened at 8am and were to close at 10pm. They were to reopen for a second day on Monday from 7am to 3pm.
The proposals were brought in by the last government led by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi who continues to promote them enthusiastically from opposition after losing in a general election eleven weeks ago in April.
The reforms would also strengthen the hand of Italian prime ministers against parliament and the president.
Supporters, mainly on the right, say that after a history of no less than some 50 post-war governments, the reforms would provide greater political stability.
But the left and the new Prime Minister Romano Prodi, leading a centre-left government, are very reluctant about the proposals, seeing them as an attempt at "demolition" of the 1947 constitution, a hallowed text of Italian democracy after the dark chapter of Fascism.
However, the referendum went ahead after the proposed constitution changes failed to obtain the requisite two-thirds majority in parliament last November.
Critics fear in particular that the changes could result in an increasing gulf between the economically prosperous north and a south handicapped by secular economic backwardness.
"Only the right wing has voted in favour of this reform which would re-write no less than 50 articles out of 139," warned Leopoldo Elia, a lawyer and prominent figure in a "Save the Constitution" movement.
"Above all it threatens national unity," he said, noting that reform would give the regions exclusive authority over their health and educational facilities.
With a fear of voter apathy during this referendum, President Giorgio Napolitano made a special appeal for a large turnout from the 50 million voters on an issue which, he warned, went to the very foundations of the Republic.
The referendum, which will be valid whatever the turnout, covers constitutional reforms negotiated last year by Berlusconi, while he was still prime minister, with his small populist allies known as the Northern League, who threatened to quit his coalition if their demands were not met.
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