ADRIAN MA, HOST:
In Italy, voters are turning out in a referendum on whether to change the country's judicial system. But the results could also determine the political future for Italy's far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. Megan Williams reports from Rome.
MEGAN WILLIAMS, BYLINE: The vote asks Italians to decide whether judges and state prosecutors should have permanently separate careers, ending a system that has long allowed them to switch roles. It would also split Italy's powerful, self-governing judiciary council in two, with members chosen by lot, instead of being elected by their peers, effectively weakening it.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
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WILLIAMS: Supporters of the proposed reform rallied this week here in Rome, saying it's long past time to update a justice system riddled with backroom deals and to end the possibility of judges and prosecutors swapping roles.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Chanting in non-English language).
WILLIAMS: Those who oppose Meloni's government rallied, too, insisting the proposed constitutional changes are simply a ploy to erode an independent judiciary.
MARIAFRANCESCA ABENAVOLI: (Non-English language spoken).
WILLIAMS: Magistrate Mariafrancesca Abenavoli is a member of Italy's Supreme Council of the Judiciary, the body that oversees the appointment and discipline of judges and prosecutors. She's voting no...
ABENAVOLI: (Non-English language spoken).
WILLIAMS: ...Saying, "weakening the judiciary's independence strikes at the heart of Italy's constitution, written just after World War II, to prevent any single branch of power from dominating the others and to ensure the horrors of fascism and Nazism could never happen again."
ABENAVOLI: (Non-English language spoken).
WILLIAMS: It's a fight that goes back decades, says politics professor at the University of Naples Marco Valbruzzi.
MARCO VALBRUZZI: There's no doubt that this is a continuation of Berlusconi's battle against the judicial system.
WILLIAMS: Berlusconi, Italy's controversial former leader, famously railed against magistrates, calling them communists, as he faced charges including having sex with a minor, though, he was ultimately found not guilty on appeal. Meloni's right-wing coalition has its own set of gripes with the judges. They've blocked her plans to process migrants offshore in nearby Albania, as well as a plan to build a bridge linking Sicily to the mainland and ordered the state to pay damages for illegally detaining migrants rescued at sea.
VALBRUZZI: So they are irritated by the fact that some judges control the decision taken by the executive.
WILLIAMS: Polls show the vote will be neck and neck, with a lot of people still undecided, like Raffaella Rojatti, a town counselor in Rignano Flaminio, north of Rome.
RAFFAELLA ROJATTI: I really dislike the idea of voting against this.
WILLIAMS: Rojatti backs the proposed changes. But as a small-town politician, she says process matters, and she's uneasy the government strong-armed the referendum through parliament with no debate.
ROJATTI: We live in a very polarized world and society. And so I think it's quite important that things are discussed, and that parliament plays a role in this respect.
WILLIAMS: As the vote nears, Meloni has tried to broaden her appeal, even appearing on a massively popular podcast hosted by rapper and influencer, Fedez .
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PRIME MINISTER GIORGIA MELONI: (Non-English language spoken).
WILLIAMS: But the campaign has hit some unexpected headwinds. Her once-prized relationship with Donald Trump is looking more like a liability. Even here in Italy, one of Europe's more Trump-friendly countries, public unease about Washington's erratic foreign policy is growing. The war on Iran has already sent gas prices soaring. Meloni, almost four years into her mandate, has outlasted the average Italian government twice over.
VALBRUZZI: If the yes will prevail, Giorgia Meloni will be stronger in power.
WILLIAMS: But, says Valbruzzi, if the no wins...
VALBRUZZI: Giorgia Meloni will be a sort of lame duck.
WILLIAMS: For now, Italy's long war between the right and the judiciary is far from over. And Valbruzzi says, in an era when democratic institutions are under pressure across the western world, this vote is one more front in that battle. For NPR News, I'm Megan Williams in Rome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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