page_title: 2016 Italian constitutional referendum
section_title: Constitutional background
hierarchical_section_title: 2016 Italian constitutional referendum / Constitutional background
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Palazzo Madama in Rome
context_page_description: A constitutional referendum was held in Italy on Sunday 4 December 2016. Voters were asked whether they approve a constitutional law that amends the Italian Constitution to reform the composition and powers of the Parliament of Italy, as well as the division of powers between the State, the regions, and administrative entities.
  The bill, put forward by then-Prime Minister of Italy, Matteo Renzi, and his centre-left Democratic Party, was first introduced by the government in the Senate on 8 April 2014. After several amendments were made to the proposed law by both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, the bill received its first approval on 13 October 2015 and 11 January 2016, and, eventually, its second and final approval on 20 January 2016 and 12 April 2016.
  In accordance with Article 138 of the Constitution, a referendum was called after the formal request of more than one fifth of the members of both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, since the constitutional law had not been approved by a qualified majority of two-thirds in each house of parliament in the second vote. 59.11% of voters voted against the constitutional reform, meaning it did not come into effect.
context_section_description: The Italian Parliament is described as a perfectly symmetric bicameral legislature, in that it has a lower house (the Chamber of Deputies) and an upper house (the Senate of the Republic) with the following characteristics:
  The two houses are elected simultaneously and for the same five-year term.
  The Government must have each house's confidence, and is responsible to both of them.
  All legislation must be passed in the same text by both houses: whenever a bill is amended by either house, it must be sent to the other one in a process known as the navetta parlamentare (parliamentary shuttle).
caption: Palazzo Madama, the meeting place of the Italian Senate.
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