Italy to Hold Referendum on 'Reduction of Parliamentary Seats' on 20-21

Number of Italian Parliament Members, 1.56 per 100,000 People
Higher than Major EU Countries

Italian Chamber of Deputies [EPA=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-gyu Lee] On the 20th and 21st of this month, Italy will hold a referendum to reduce the number of parliament members along with simultaneous local elections in seven regions.

According to local Italian media on the 14th, this referendum proposal, the fourth since the establishment of the republic in 1946, aims to reduce the number of senators from 315 to 200 and the number of representatives from 630 to 400.

The number of parliament members in Italy is 1.56 per 100,000 citizens, which is higher than the OECD average (0.97), as well as major EU countries such as Germany (0.80), France (1.48), and Spain (1.32). Compared to South Korea (0.58), it is about three times higher. If the reduction plan is approved in the referendum, this figure will drop to the 1.0 range.

This proposal was pledged by the Five Star Movement, one of the coalition partners, in 2018, aiming to reform the inefficient and costly parliamentary structure that hinders national development. The Five Star Movement claims that reducing the number of parliament members will save 500 million euros (approximately 700 billion KRW) in taxes over a five-year parliamentary term.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.