A five-part referendum was held in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

on 17 and 18 May 1981.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An ex ...

& Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1048 The proposals included repealing laws on public order, life sentences, gun licences, and abortion. All were rejected by voters, with no proposal receiving more than 32% of the vote.

Abortion abrogative referendums

Two referendums were held on the new ''Law 194'', which had legalized abortion. The first referendum was called by the Radical Party, which asked more liberalization abolishing all the remaining limits to the free choice of the women. The second was called by

Christian Democracy Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...

and the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and its related movements for life, trying to restore the ban on abortion.

Results

Liberalising abortion laws

Prohibiting abortion

Although both referendums were rejected, and the percentages of support of the Catholic question was higher than the percentages of the radical one, the result was generally seen as a victory for the Radical Party, which won at least one referendum in a country considered highly influenced by the

. The referendum on prohibiting abortion won in one region -

Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol ( ; ; ), often known in English as Trentino-South Tyrol or by its shorter Italian name Trentino-Alto Adige, is an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy, located in the ...

, specifically the

South Tyrol South Tyrol ( , ; ; ), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, is an autonomous administrative division, autonomous provinces of Italy, province in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomo ...

/Bolzano province.

Police powers abrogative referendum

A third referendum was held on repealing the ''Reale Law'', which had been the subject of a referendum in 1978. The referendum was called by the Radical Party, but was only partially supported by the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a Social democracy, social democratic and Democratic socialism, democratic socialist political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parti ...

Results

The referendum was rejected by the Italian electors, following the positions of all the parties of the so-called Constitutional Arch.

Life imprisonment abrogative referendum

A fourth referendum was called by the Radical Party asking voters to reject

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

as the highest level of punishment for crimes.

Results

Gun licence abrogative referendum

The last referendum was called by the Radical Party asking voters to repeal the law on licences to guns, allowing the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

to give weapons to some high-risking citizens, thereby banning all citizens from owning guns.

Results

References

{{Italian elections Referendums in Italy

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Referendums A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in the adoption of a new policy) or advis ...

Italian referendums Italian referendums Abortion referendums