Italy court rejects appeal against constitutional referendum

ROME: A Rome court on Tuesday rejected an appeal against the wording of a Dec. 4 referendum on constitutional reform, bringing to a close a series of legal appeals against the vote, all of which have been rejected.

Valerio Onida, a former constitutional court judge, brought the latest case arguing that it was unacceptable that the ballot sheet lumped together multiple issues into one question requesting a single 'yes' or 'no' answer.

All opinion polls over the past month suggest Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is likely to lose the ballot over his proposal to drastically reduce the role of the Senate and curb the powers of regional governments.