Referendums in Italy

Final results from a referendum show that Irish voters have overwhelmingly supported repealing their country's constitutional ban on abortions and having parliament enact laws that reflect the popular vote.

 Two wealthy regions of northern Italy, Lombardy and Veneto, voted overwhelmingly on Sunday for more autonomy from the central government, according to preliminary results, Reuters reported.

Over 98 percent of residents of Italy's Veneto region voted on Sunday in favor of getting by the region of autonomy status during a non-binding referendum, the local election commission said.

According to the commission, the turnout exceeded 57 percent and the majority of ballots have already been processed.

Those who believe in the idea of a united Europe, the so-called pro-Europeans, were left with mixed feelings following the results of a referendum in Italy and a repeat presidential election in Austria. While the "No" victory was expected in Italy, few could imagine such a big difference between the two camps.

A closely-watched Italian referendum on oil and gas drilling concessions failed to reach the required turnout threshold on April 17, in a win for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi who had urged voters to stay home.

Simultaneously with the local elections taking place on Sunday, Bulgarians are also voting in a referendum on the introduction of remote electronic voting.

The referendum was initiated by Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliv and initially was foreseen to feature three questions on the introduction of compulsory voting, majority voting and remote electronic voting.

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev has set October 25 as the date for both local elections and a referendum on remote electronic voting.

Nearly all of Bulgaria's problems have their origin in the judicial system and electoral law, President Rosen Plevneliev has said.

This is the first time he has compared changes to voting rules and the judicial reform, two issues which he supports avidly.

All referendums held on the same day as elections will be valid if 50% of the participants in the vote also answer to the referendum question(s), according to a decision of Bulgaria's parliamentary legal committee.

Bulgarians will now be able to vote on referendums. This is one of the prescriptions of the new law amendment to be reviewed in Parliament Wednesday.

The legislative commission to Bulgarian Parliament approved the proposals for change at end July and now the text will be further reviewed by MPs for the second time.