New Telegraph: News

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has resigned after suffering a heavy defeat in a referendum over his plan to reform the constitution.

In a late-night news conference, he said he took responsibility for the outcome, and said the No camp must now make clear proposals.

With most ballots counted, the No vote leads with 60% against 40% for Yes.

The turnout was nearly 70%, in a vote that was seen as a chance to register discontent with the prime minister.

“Good luck to us all,” Renzi told reporters. He said he would tell a Cabinet meeting on Monday afternoon that he was resigning, and then tender his resignation to the Italian president after two-and-a-half years in office.

Renzi said the reforms he proposed would have cut Italy’s bureaucracy and made the country more competitive.

But the referendum was widely seen as a chance to register discontent with the prime minister.

The No vote was supported by populist parties, and the referendum was regarded as a barometer of anti-establishment sentiment in Europe.

The populist Five Star Movement says it is getting ready to govern Italy now that Renzi is resigning. “Starting tomorrow we’ll be at work on a Five Star government,” one of its leaders, Luigi Di Maio, said.

The movement, led by comedian Beppe Grillo, spearheaded the winning No campaign.

Opposition leader Matteo Salvini, of the anti-immigrant Northern League, called the referendum a “victory of the people against the strong powers of three-quarters of the world”.

There has been an immediate reaction from right-wing leaders in Europe.

The leader of Front National in France, Marine Le Pen, tweeted her congratulations to the Northern League, reports the BBC.

“The Italians have disavowed the EU and Renzi. We must listen to this thirst for freedom of nations,” she said.

The euro fell against the dollar immediately after the exit polls came out.

There have been growing concerns over financial stability in the eurozone’s third largest economy.

The No campaign in Italy has been spearheaded by the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, led by Beppe Grillo.

It wants a referendum on whether Italy should keep the euro.

Populist parties, including the Five Star Movement and the anti-immigrant Northern League.

The referendum comes in the wake of the Brexit vote in the UK in June, and coincides with the rise of the anti-immigrant Front National in France and populist parties elsewhere. It also comes less than a month after the election of Donald Trump in the United States.

Some 50 million Italians have the right to vote in the referendum – many voters are fed up with years of economic stagnation.
https://newtelegraphonline.com/italy-pm-resigns-heavy-poll-defeat/

Everything na time.

Now that's democracy, I wonder why Africans aint learning from d west

good leader, this shows that the man is not after the people's money but trying to fix the nation unlike in Nigeria where all the politician desire is money not labour for the people..

isn't it that simple? as a public officer and a policy turns against you or not in your favour, is it not fr the good of the people and the country that u resign.Instead of being un- necessarily dogged and still hold the office.Forcing yourself to manage a policy you understand nothing about at your own selfish interest.they will never to that here rather asking for term elongation...

Lalasticlala, Italy's prime minister to resign after referendum defeat. This should grace FP sir

They should dissolve EU already.