Italy Referendum Not Yet Held Despite Claims

The reform has already been approved by both houses of parliament twice, as is required with constitutional changes. However, a referendum is also needed by law if a two-thirds majority is not achieved in parliament.

Italians will vote on ‌March 22-23 on a proposal to separate the careers of judges and public prosecutors, splitting the self-ruling High Council of the Judiciary (CSM) into two bodies whose members would be chosen by lot rather than elected.

The March 22–23 referendum on changes to the judicial system has become a major political test for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government, which faces an election next year.

VOTE NO IN THE REFERENDUM." The view that the government sought to politically control the magistrature was notably held by historian Alessandro Barbero, who was criticised by fact-checkers for a number of misleading claims; while they found that he presented a fairly accurate summary of the Italian justice system, they found that the text of the reform did not reflect the issues presented by Barbero.

The referendum has thus been finally approved and scheduled, marking the last procedural step required under Article 138 of the Constitution before the constitutional amendment can enter into force.

In contrast, confirmatory constitutional referendums have been few: 2001, 2006, 2016, 2020, and 2026. This shows that in Italy the referendum has mainly been used as a tool of control or correction of Parliament’s legislative activity, rather than as a tool for deciding on constitutional reforms.

Since the Berlusconi era, the relationship with the judiciary in Italy has been marked by strong polarisation within the centre right and by the relationship between politics, justice and media representation more broadly. From this perspective, the Italian referendum is not only a vote on a justice reform but also an opportunity to ask how trust in different institutions is distributed within the centre right.

A constitutional reform that, to anyone not privy to Italian political history, would seem like a fairly innocent restructuring of magistrates’ career paths, is in fact fraught with political baggage. In the world of politics—which is known for many things, but perhaps not its coherence—it is not entirely rare to see two opposing sides accusing each other of the same thing. The debate over the upcoming constitutional referendum on judicial independence in Italy is no different: both sides claim the other is trying to politicise the judiciary, albeit in different manners.

On 22 and 23 March 2026, Italians will vote in a confirmatory constitutional referendum on a reform that redesigns the governance of the judiciary. The subject is technical, but the implications are institutional.