The referendum date was announced in April 2017 by
President of Veneto Luca Zaia after decades of debates and efforts by supporters of
Venetian nationalism, which rose to prominence in the 1980s–1990s. Both in 1992 and 2000, the
Constitutional Court had rejected proposals for similar referendums brought forward by the
Regional Council of Veneto. In 2014,
Plebiscito.eu, a minor Venetist organisation and supposedly cross-party committee, organised an online unofficial
independence referendum. Following that episode, the Region tried to hold an official one by voting a related bill. In June 2015, the Constitutional Court ruled the independence referendum out as contrary to the
Constitution, but it authorised one of the five autonomy referendums proposed by the Region ("Do you want further forms and special conditions of autonomy to be attributed to the Region of Veneto?").
Lombardy, Italy's most populous region neighbouring to Veneto on the east, held a similar
referendum on 22 October. Both Zaia and
President of Lombardy Roberto Maroni were members of
Lega Nord (LN) and more specifically of
Liga Veneta and
Lega Lombarda, respectively. The LN had always been a strong proponent of federal reform, but these referendums were supported also by the
Five Star Movement,
Forza Italia and more moderately the
Democratic Party.
The Economist newspaper, which bet on the "yes" camp to prevail, also predicted that due to the perceived "anti-southern skew" of the vote the "national ambitions" of
Matteo Salvini, LN federal secretary, would be negatively impacted by a resounding "yes" victory while Zaia could become the "future leader of the party". (However, Salvini not only remained party leader, but led the party to a success in the
2018 general election and was sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister in
Giuseppe Conte's
government.) == See also ==