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Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has announced his resignation after Italian voters rejected his proposed reforms to the country’s constitution, the latest in a populist wave that has sent shockwaves through the West in the past six months.
“The experience of my government ends here,” Renzi said at his residence, the Palazzo Chigi, just after midnight in Rome.
The proposed overhaul would have slashed the size and powers of the Italian senate, and centralized regional powers at the federal level. Renzi and his backers said the move would have streamlined the legislative process in Italy, a country notorious for political corruption, instability, and inefficiency.
