A small town in Italy's Basilicata region has held a referendum in which its citizens have decided against receiving migrants into their community.
There were 341 "no" votes and 59 "yes" votes on the question of whether the small town, Laurenzana in the Potenza province, should take in migrants. The community strongly decided against opening the community to newcomers. There are currently no migrants living in the town. The result has no real legal value, but is indicative of the local sentiment. The referendum was organized by the local council, but only 413 of the 1,763 eligible voters took part.
The municipality has no migrants
The town of roughly 1,800 inhabitants in the heart of the Basilicata region in the Apennines mountain range held the vote in the local council hall from 7 AM to 10 PM on January 14. The Basilicata region is known for welcoming migrants who have arrived via the Mediterranean route, but none of these migrants have been hosted in Laurenzana.
Last summer a "preventative" committee was formed to discuss the potential presence of foreigners in the town. About 80 out of 131 municipalities in the region have decided to take in migrants. The Italian interior ministry was against referendum. "For me, democracy is sacred," the town's mayor, Michele Ungaro, told ANSA. "I felt it was necessary to accept a request for a democratic vote in my community." In recent weeks, the interior ministry has spoken out against the referendum due to the lack of jurisdiction on the matter, on a request by the deputy mayor of Laurenzana.