Justice referendum, Supreme Court accepts new question, voting date in the balance
The Central Office has accepted the new question for the referendum on justice reform, in the version formulated by the 15 jurists who promoted the collection of signatures of 500,000 citizens
Key points
The referendum on Justice risks being postponed: everything will depend on the interpretation of the order filed by the magistrates of the Central Office at the Court of Cassation, who accepted the new question for the referendum in the version formulated by the 15 jurists who promoted the collection of signatures of 500,000 citizens. The judges' statement reads: 'Given that the question set out' in the previous order of 18 November is no longer valid, they 'now formulate the new question' and 'order that, by the Court of Cassation registry, this order be immediately communicated to the President of the Republic, the Presidents of the Chambers, the President of the Council of Ministers and the President of the Constitutional Court. It is also ordered "that this order be notified to the presenters of the request of the 546,343 electors and to the three delegates of the parliamentarians requesting each of the four referendum requests admitted by the order of 18 November 2025".
The addition to the original question concerns the reference to the amended articles of the Constitution. The original question read: "Do you approve the text of the constitutional law concerning "Rules on the judicial system and the establishment of the Disciplinary Court" approved by Parliament and published in the Official Gazette No. 253 of 30 October 2025?". In the new wording, the phrase is added: "by which Articles 87 paragraph 10, 102 paragraph 1, 104, 105, 106 paragraph 3, 107 paragraph 1 and 110 paragraph 1 of the Constitution are amended?"
The risk feared by some is that the rewording of the question could lead to a new decree calling the referendum, which would restart the fifty-day referendum campaign count prescribed by law before voting. At this point, the date would slip by at least a couple of weeks, considering the Easter weekend when it would not be possible to go to the polls. And according to some parts of politics, the aim of the plaintiffs is precisely to further shift the voting date, which could give the No Committee more time to explain its reasons. The issues will now go to the attention of all the bodies in charge, from the Quirinale to Palazzo Chigi and the Consulta. It seems certain, however, that this would be a unicum in the case of referendums: a modification of the text with the referendum campaign already underway would never have happened. But on the question of postponing the date, meanwhile, the experts are divided.
On the question of the postponement of the date, meanwhile, the experts were divided, while maintaining reservations.
Ceccanti: 'Referendum date already called, but we can appeal to the Consulta'
"Premising the fact that we have to wait for the filing of the Supreme Court order, I believe that the date of the referendum does not change: the referendum is already called by decree, the question would only be updated and there would be no need for other decrees that would postpone the date. So the question changes but the date does not. We await the decree. However, I would not exclude the possibility that the issue could be prolonged if the promoters decide to ask for the date to be changed by appealing to the Consulta for a conflict of attribution. Even in that case, however, I think the appeal would not be admitted'. These are the words of constitutional expert Stefano Ceccanti, professor of comparative public law at La Sapienza University in Rome and former parliamentarian, on the acceptance of the new question for the referendum on the Justice reform.
