Write a short, clear, factual news headline based on this article: Polling stations opened Sunday in Italy for a two-day referendum on judicial reform.The vote is seen as a key test for Giorgia Meloni’s government.
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Polling stations opened Sunday in Italy for a two-day referendum on judicial reform.The vote is seen as a key test for Giorgia Meloni’s government.
Most of the country’s 35,000 villages, towns and boroughs elected their leaders in a first round last weekend, but the races went to run-offs in about 1,500 communes, including bigger urban centres.
The local ballots are being closely watched to gauge the mood on the ground and potential party alliances before the election of a successor to centrist President Emmanuel Macron next year, with the far right scenting its best chance yet at seizing power.
Polls are to open at 8:00 am (0700 GMT) on the French mainland, with results expected to start trickling in some 12 hours later.
French mayors: Throwing in the sash?
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“A little over a year before the presidential election, the final results of this local ballot will provide valuable insight into the mood of the French public,” Le Monde newspaper wrote in an editorial on Friday.
In Paris, the race is looking tight between leftist Emmanuel Gregoire, a former deputy of outgoing Socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo, and his runner-up, right-wing ex-minister Rachida Dati.
The former justice and culture minister, a mentee of now convicted ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy, hopes to seize Paris for the right after 25 years under leftist leadership to become its second woman mayor in a row.
Dati, who faces trial in September on corruption charges she denies, has boosted her chances after a centre-right candidate and a far-right hopeful dropped out.
But Gregoire had refused a helping hand from a hard-left contender who has remained in the race, splitting the leftist vote.
In recent elections, leftist and centrist parties have allied in the second round to prevent a far-right win.
But the left has been fractured since the fatal beating last month of a far-right activist blamed on fringe leftists, with the moderate left only allying with more radical politicians on a case-by-case basis.
New city for the far right?
Marine Le Pen‘s far-right National Rally (RN) party is also hoping for better scores than in previous local polls.
The RN claims that it and its allies were re-elected last Sunday in 10 communes, including the southern city of Perpignan of 120,000 inhabitants – the largest in France to be run by the far-right party.
They also won for the first time in 14 other districts.
But they are also hoping to be elected in larger areas.
Its candidate won by far the most votes in Toulon, a southern city of 180,000 residents. If captured in the run-off, it would be the largest under RN control to date.
In the southern city of Marseille, RN hopeful Franck Allisio came second last week, a single percentage point behind incumbent left-wing mayor Benoit Payan.
But the left looks likely to stay in charge, after a hard-left candidate stepped down.
In the northern port city of Le Havre, declared presidential candidate Edouard Philippe is well-placed to remain mayor.
Philippe, a centrist who as prime minister helped steer France through the start of the Covid pandemic, is seen as one of the strongest opponents to the RN’s potential presidential pick – whether three-time candidate Le Pen, 57, or her 30-year-old lieutenant Jordan Bardella.
Overall turnout for the first round stood at 57 percent – the country’s lowest in local polls bar the Covid pandemic-affected last edition in 2020.
Originally presented as a technical overhaul of the justice system, the reform has sharpened political divisions and unified the centre‑left opposition, turning the referendum into a symbolic showdown on Meloni’s strength one year ahead of national elections.
Recent polls show the race remains too close to call, with the “No” camp gaining late momentum in a polarised climate where turnout may prove decisive. After five hours of voting on the first day, according to Italy’s interior ministry, turnout reached almost 15 percent of eligible voters. That is the highest turnout for any two-day referendum in the past 23 years.
Lorenzo Pregliasco, political analyst and polling expert at YouTrend, said a rejection of the reform would carry significant political weight.
“A possible ‘No’ victory would send a political signal, weakening Meloni’s aura of invincibility, while pushing the centre-left opposition to say that there is already an alternative in the country,” he said.
Meloni initially avoided tying her image too closely to the referendum, wary of the danger that a defeat could weaken her domestically and abroad.
She currently presides over Italy’s most stable government in years, after gaining credibility among her European allies as a charismatic leader. A referendum win would further strengthen her tenure at home, alongside her international standing.
That’s why, as the vote neared and polls tightened, the Italian premier shifted strategy and fully embraced the “Yes” campaign.
Meloni has sharpened her rhetoric, accusing parts of the judiciary of hindering government work on migration and security, and warning that failure to pass the reform would strengthen unaccountable judicial “factions” and endanger citizens’ safety.
“If the reform doesn’t pass this time, we will probably not have another chance,” she said at a campaign event last week. “We will find ourselves with even more powerful factions, even more negligent judges, even more surreal sentences, immigrants, rapists, pedophiles, drug dealers being freed and putting your security at risk.”
Her stark warnings have drawn fierce criticism from magistrates and the centre-left, who argue that the reforms would erode judicial independence and undermine constitutional guarantees.
“Obviously (I’m voting) no, because I think this government has organised a referendum that serves no purpose other than its own, if it were to go ahead,” said 89-year-old Giovanna Antongini as she headed to a polling station in central Rome.
Analysts say the referendum carries international implications as well.
Meloni’s long standing alignment with US President Donald Trump, once politically advantageous, has become increasingly problematic as his foreign policy – particularly the US and Israeli war with Iran – faces growing disapproval among Italians.
“Meloni is facing what I would call the ‘Trump risk’ – which is appearing too subservient to the US president, who is an extremely unpopular political leader in Italy and the rest of Europe and generates a lot of distrust, even among centre-right voters,” Pregliasco said.
A defeat in the referendum would not force Meloni to resign – her mandate runs through 2027 and she repeatedly pledged to complete it – but could diminish her credibility within the European Union, where she is viewed as a stabilising actor in an often politically volatile environment.
Threatening judiciary’s independence?
The referendum centers on long-debated reforms aimed at reshaping the structure of Italy’s judiciary.
“This vote is very important,” said Francesca Serlupi Ferretti Crescenzi, 67, casting her ballot in Rome. “It is intended to improve the judicial system, which is long overdue for reform. I am convinced that it must and can be improved.”
A key measure includes separating the career paths of judges and prosecutors, preventing them from switching roles – something that is currently allowed but rarely practiced.
Another major change concerns the High Judicial Council, which oversees magistrates’ appointments and disciplinary matters. The reform proposes splitting it into three separate chambers and altering how members are chosen, replacing internal elections with selections by lottery from eligible judges and prosecutors.
The clash between Italy’s right-wing leaders and magistrates has punctuated Italian politics, exploding during the governments of late conservative leader Silvio Berlusconi, who was one of the staunchest supporters of the judicial reform.
Supporters argue the changes will modernise an infamously slow court system and enhance accountability. But critics, including prominent magistrates, say the reform misses the real priorities while threatening the judiciary’s independence.
Nicola Gratteri, Naples’ chief prosecutor and a long-time anti-Mafia magistrate, offered one of the most pointed rebukes.
“I don’t think this government has implemented the reforms needed to make trials work more effectively,” he said. “Instead, it has made it virtually impossible to combat crimes against the public administration and to tackle white-collar abuse and corruption.”
As Italians head to the polls, the referendum stands as one of the defining moments of Meloni’s premiership – a choice that could reshape not only the justice system but also the trajectory of her government, regardless of the outcome.
