September 2019 Midterm Referendum

The September 2019 Midterm Referendum was held from 8 September to 22 September 2019/XL and included a single question on the merger between Fiovă and Florencia. Voting was restricted to the citizens of the two provinces only.

Background

The merger of Fiovă and Florencia was the second time the discussion of altering the provincial boundaries was brought up since Reunision added Fiovă as the eighth Province. In 2016, the merger of Maritiimi-Maxhestic and Vuode had been discussed, which would only have entailed the union of the provincial governments rather than a full merger.

Legislation

The referendum was called by Prime Minister Miestrâ Schivâ and administered by the Secretary of State, Glüc da Dhi.

The Ziu passed 53RZ1, "The Fantastic Fusion of Fiovă and Florencia Bill", in May 2019; the bill called for the two provinces to merge upon agreeing a constitution for the merged province, and following the passage of a referendum.

Results and aftermath

26 ballots were cast, out of 39 eligible voters, for a turnout of 66.7%. The turnout in Fiovă was 63.2%, and the turnout in Florencia was 70%.

The lone question, "Do you support the union of Florencia and Fiova into a single province, under the following constitution ([1]) which has been approved by both Provincial legislatures?", failed by 11 votes to 12, with three abstentions.

Fiovă approved of the merger, by 7 votes to 2 (77.8%), with three abstentions; but Florencia rejected the merger by a similar, inverted proportion, 4 votes to 10 (28.6%). As such, plans for the merger were shelved, although in the following election most parties inserted in their platform a pledge to reduce the number of provinces or abolish them altogether.