Five opposition-backed referendums fail in Italy

When Maurizio Landini arrived at the polling station in the village of San Polo d’Enza, he found it almost empty: not a promising sign. Mr Landini, who heads Italy’s biggest trade union federation, was the leading sponsor of four referendums held on June 8th and 9th dealing with job security and workplace safety. A fifth proposition offered voters a chance to give immigrants easier access to Italian citizenship. But for the results to be valid, more than half the electorate had to vote. Mr Landini, other trade unionists and opposition politicians had been urging people to turn out for weeks.