European elections, only 23,734 requests for off-site voting
Under the experiment, students who have applied by 5 May can vote close to home. Puglia and Sicily the first regions for number of adherents
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Key points
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There are just under 24,000 non-resident students who will be able to vote close to home in the European elections on 8 and 9 June. A decidedly small portion of the total number of Italians who study away from their place of residence, which, according to various estimates, ranges from 400 thousand to 800 thousand throughout Italy.
The new voting method, introduced by Law Decree 7/2024, converted into Law 38/2024, is a test for the possible regulation of voting away from home. The Ministry of the Interior's circular 27/2024, giving detailed indications on the timing and methods of this experimental vote, stipulated that interested students should send an application to their municipality of residence by 5 May, which in turn would forward the names to the prefectures and then to the Interior Ministry's Department for Internal and Territorial Affairs (Dait) by 24 May.
The Viminale (Italian Ministry of the Interior) has announced that there are 23,734 'non-residents' who have submitted a regular application within the deadline, 21,166 of whom will vote outside their home constituency, in special sections that will be set up in the regional capitals, and 2,568 will vote, in supplementary lists, in the municipality of temporary residence that belongs to the same territorial constituency as their place of residence. Of these almost 24,000 students, 5,339 are also involved in local elections.
Where do outsiders come from and where will they vote
?In detail, the largest number of applications (9,398) came from students living in District I (Piedmont, Valle d'Aosta, Liguria, Lombardy), followed by 7,713 students in District II (Trentino Alto Adige, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Emilia Romagna); 5,824 students in District III (Tuscany, Umbria, Marche, Lazio); 642 students in District IV (Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria); 157 students in District V (Sicily and Sardinia).
Looking at the regions of origin, however, it was first and foremost Apulians (4,107 applications), followed by Sicilians (3,917 voters), Campanians (1,601) and Calabrians (1,478 voters).
