Voting from Afar

26 Nov 2025, by Davide Paris

Millions of Italians abroad can vote, but fewer and fewer do so. Yet, in referendums and potential premiership elections, all vote count equally, so that people with only tenuous attachment to the country of origin could decide its political destiny. Perhaps it's time to ask what the requirements for active citizenship should be

Voter turnout among Italians abroad has always been much lower than in Italy: in 2022 elections, only 26% of Italians abroad voted, compared to 64% of residents in Italy. Thus, in the referendums on employment and citizenship held on 8 and 9 June 2025, referendum advocates raised concerns that the low voter turnout among Italians abroad could lead to the constitutionally required 50% threshold of minimum participation — the so-called quorum — not being reached.

In theory, the problem could be very serious: in the only instance since 1997 in which a quorum was attained — the 2011 referendums on public water and nuclear power — voter turnout in Italy was 57%, but abroad only 23% of eligible voters cast their ballots. Overall turnout thus fell to 54.8%, dangerously close to the quorum’s threshold. Therefore, in addition to overcoming an increasingly high level of abstentions in the electorate — because of those who either do not vote out of disinterest or strategically decide to stay at home to defeat the referendum — referendum advocates must also contend with the additional obstacle of increased political apathy among voters abroad, which makes reaching the 50% turnout even more difficult.

In practice, however, in the other five referendums in which Italians abroad have participated since 2003, turnout gaps have been much less marked: in the 2022 referendums, for example, 16% of Italians abroad voted, compared to approximately 21% of residents in Italy. The same was true for the referendums of June 2025, where turnout in Italy was 30.5%, while abroad it was 23.5%, in both cases far below the 50% plus one required for a referendum to be valid.

The issue, if anything, is another, and goes beyond the referendums themselves. The low voter turnout of offshore Italians should prompt reflection on the very advisability of including all Italians that reside abroad in the electorate. In June, a vote was held whether or not to repeal laws that only apply to those who live and work in Italy: is it right that those who have never lived in Italy or have not lived in the country for many years should also vote and even decide the outcome?

In other countries, a distinction has been made between the citizens that live abroad, granting the right to vote to those who are deemed to still have a strong connection to the mother country and denying it to those who do not. Italy has taken a different path. On the one hand, the right to vote is granted to all Italians abroad, regardless of whether they have ever lived in Italy or hold another citizenship. On the other hand, however, to avoid the disruptive impact of the enormous number of residents abroad on Italian politics, they were assigned a significantly smaller number of parliamentarians than they would have been entitled to if they had been living in Italy.

In the case of referendums, however, this solution of weighted voting, already highly questionable in itself, becomes impractical, because it is no longer a matter of electing a larger or smaller number of representatives, but of choosing between a Yes or a No vote, where each vote counts equally. Thus, the "weakened" vote that Italians cast abroad in the elections for the two chambers of the Italian Parliament becomes a full-strength vote in abrogative (and constitutional) referendums. The same conclusion applies to the proposal in favor of the direct election of the Prime Minister, as envisaged by the constitutional reform that would introduce premiership in Italy which is supported by the current ruling majority. If it were to be approved, voters abroad, who represent about a tenth of the electorate, would go from electing a small number of parliamentarians through their overseas constituencies to being the deciding factor in the main objective of general elections: choosing the Prime Minister and determining the composition of Parliament. This is a serious issue, of which the majority proposing the reform is aware, but for which it has so far failed to formulate a credible solution.

In short, the vote of Italians abroad in referendums and the possible failure to reach quorums are only a minor aspect of a much broader issue. Giving all adult holders of Italian passports the right to vote in political elections and referendums without distinction is a very questionable choice. Though it is understandable to give say over fundamental decisions to citizens who have been abroad for short periods of time with the prospect of continuing to participate in Italian political life when they return to Italy, it is much more difficult to understand for descendants of Italians born and raised abroad, who are fully integrated in their own countries, where they are also citizens. A distinction within the quite diverse group of Italians abroad seems necessary: sometimes, in order to guarantee a right, it is necessary to place limits on it.