ITALY: Italians have begun voting in a two-day referendum that could herald the biggest constitutional shake-up in half a century if prime minister Romano Prodi fails to convince the country to reject it.
Mr Prodi, whose office of prime minister would be strengthened by the changes, says the proposals would harm national unity, weaken the president and cost the nation more than €250 billion to implement.
Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose centre-right coalition championed the reforms before being voted out of office in April elections, says the changes would regenerate Italy's antiquated system of government.
Italy's constitution was drawn up after the second World War with the aim of preventing the return of totalitarianism. However, critics say it contains so many checks and balances that it has been hard to govern, with many post-war administrations surviving barely a year.
The referendum gives Mr Berlusconi a sorely needed chance to reassert himself as leader of the centre-right House of Freedoms coalition after he lost the national elections and then failed to win key seats in local polls last month.
"The House of Freedoms wants a respite from repeated defeat with a document that destroys the constitution," Mr Prodi said in the run-up to the vote, urging Italians to vote No.
"It is an insult to our country and a distortion of the rules that govern Italy." The polls opened yesterday at 8am and close 3pm today, when first projections will be released.
Both sides have predicted victory, but commentators say uncertainty over the turnout makes it impossible to predict the outcome.
The referendum would give Italy's 20 regions full autonomy over health, schooling and policing, a move critics say would mean better services for richer northern regions, to the detriment of the poorer south.
It would also transform the upper house senate into a federal rather than national legislative body and give the prime minister more clout, enabling him or her to hire and fire ministers and dissolve parliament.
This should effectively halt the common Italian practice by which parties switch sides in mid-term and bring down a prime minister.
The referendum is needed because the measure passed by only a simple majority in parliament last November, when Mr Berlusconi was still prime minister, instead of the two-thirds majority that would have made the changes automatic.
Former president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi has urged Italians to reject the changes, saying the constitution as it stands "is beautiful, vital and more relevant than ever".
Mr Prodi's ruling centre-left coalition says the changes would give too much power to the prime minister and weaken the role of the president, who has traditionally been an impartial arbiter.