Segre says she'll vote against cutting parliamentarians

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 18 - Life Senator and Holocaust survivor Liliana Segre has said she will vote against cutting the number of members of the Italian parliament.
    On Sunday and Monday Italians will vote in a referendum on whether to approve a constitutional law that amends the Italian Constitution to reduce the number of MPs in parliament, from 630 to 400 in the Chamber of Deputies and from 315 to 200 in the Senate.
    It was initially scheduled to be held on 29 March but had to be postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
    "There are good reasons both for the yes vote and the no vote," Segre told La Repubblica.
    "I am inclined to vote no, above all out of coherence with my general attitude towards parliament.
    "I entered like you do when you go into a temple because parliament is the highest expression of democracy.
    "So hearing this institution, which is part of my civil religion, talked about as if it were all a question of costs and positions, is not something that is part of me".
    In addition to the referendum, elections are also taking place in seven regions.
    They are Veneto, Campania, Tuscany, Liguria, Marche, Puglia and Valle d'Aosta.
    Municipal elections will take place in 1,149 comuni across Italy too.
    Some 18 provincial capitals will go to the polls: Agrigento, Andria, Aosta, Arezzo, Bolzano, Chieti, Crotone, Enna, Fermo, Lecco, Macerata, Mantua, Matera, Nuoro, Reggio Calabria, Trani, Trento and Venice.
    Three of these are also regional capitals: Aosta, Trento and Venice. (ANSA).