 the constitution of italy provides for only two kinds of legally binding referendums: *a popular referendum, which can only be called in order to decide on whether to abrogate (i.e., abolish) totally or partially an existing law;article 75 of the constitution of italy. *a constitutional referendum, which can only be called in order to decide on whether to approve a constitutional law or amendment.article 138 of the constitution of italy. despite that the constitutional right to hold a popular referendum has existed since the italian constitution was approved in late 1947, the necessary legislation detailing the bureaucratic procedures needed to have them was not approved until the early 1970s. as a consequence of this, italy's first popular referendum was not held until 1974, 27 years after the constitution was first approved. the first constitutional referendum was held in 2001, 54 years after the constitution was approved. all previous constitutional amendments had been approved by the supermajority of the parliament, denying the possibility to call a referendum. ==popular referendum== ===requirements=== a popular referendum can be called only at the request five regional councils or 500,000 eligible italian electors who sign an official validated petition and present a legal identity document to the committee (usually a political party) collecting the signatures. then, the petition (together with the thousands of pages of voter's personal details and signatures) must then be passed to the court of cassation which examines the validity of all the data. after the signatures are verified the constitutional court of italy examines subject matter of the petition itself. the court has the power to reject it outright. many fully valid petitions with the necessary 500,000 signatures have never been accepted as referendums precisely for this reason. provided the constitutional court approves the subject matter of the petition, the president of the republic has to set a date for the vote between april 15 and june 15. the timing can be crucial as turnout at the polling stations may be much lower in summer months when voters take their holidays and the quorum required for the referendum to be valid may not be reached. if the government in office falls, voting on the referendums can be delayed by up to a year. the final hurdle is that the result of the legislative referendum is only valid if at least a 50% + 1 of all eligible electors go to the polling station and cast their ballot. if this quorum is not met, the referendum in invalid and, in practice, it is a victory for the nays. the entire bureaucratic process can take more than a year and a half; from the initial gathering of 500,000 signatures in public streets and squares across italy (which can take several months in itself up to a maximum of
Referendums_in_Italy