Eight Ways to Say Yes

• Share

WHO COULD BLAME ITALIANS FOR CHOOSING change -- lots of change? Disgusted by a yearlong parade of elite politicians and businessmen charged with corruption, thievery and underworld connections, voters last week gave a resounding yes to eight referendum questions, thereby fundamentally altering the way candidates for the Senate are elected. Acknowledging this display of popular will as a signal that Italians feel their political system no longer works, Prime Minister Giuliano Amato resigned after 10 months of holding together a much reviled coalition Cabinet. Referring to the voters' decision to repudiate nearly 50 years of Italian party politics, Amato declared, "The old regime is finished." As head of Italy's 52nd postwar government, the country's next Prime Minister will have to prepare the way for nationwide elections, probably this fall, when voters will again have a chance to change Italy for the better.