ROME — An Italian referendum on granting faster citizenship to certain immigrants and seeking to strengthen labor rights failed because of low turnout, after Italian Prime Minister Giorgia ...

A key referendum measure aimed to reduce the period of residence to apply for Italian citizenship by naturalisation from 10 to 5 years. If passed, the new rules would have affected about 2.5 ...

An Italian referendum on granting faster citizenship to immigrants has failed due to low voter turnout. Italy's right-wing government was against it and tried to boycott the democratic process.

Italian economists have said the change could also be a useful measure to address the problems resulting from Italy's aging society and low birthrate — just 12% of the population is younger than 14.

The referendum, which sought to reduce the time it takes to become a naturalized citizen from 10 years to five, failed because fewer than 50% of eligible voters took part in two days of voting.