The actual referendum question had only secondary role. It was about changing the constitution to ease bureaucracy, which is traditionally heavy in Italy. But b

The actual referendum question had only secondary role. It was about changing the constitution to ease bureaucracy, which is traditionally heavy in Italy. But both the PM and the opposition made it also a vote of confidence for the PM 's platform, a gamble which the PM lost. http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2016/09/economist-explains-18 http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2016/09/ec...