Italians begin voting in high-stakes justice referendum

Italians began voting on Sunday in a referendum to confirm a contested judicial reform put forward by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a key test for her right-wing coalition ahead of a general election due next year.
Voters must decide whether to back constitutional changes to separate the career paths of judges and public prosecutors — an issue that has long roiled domestic politics — and split Italy’s judicial self-governing body into two separate entities.
The vote comes at the end of a heated campaign which pitted the Meloni-led ‘yes’ camp against centre-left opponents supporting the ‘no’.
Polls close at 3 p.m. (1400 GMT) on Monday.
The opposition, led by the Democratic Party and the 5-Star Movement, has warned that the reform would undermine judicial independence and leave room for political interference, saying that would allow Meloni to tighten her grip on power.