ROME (AP) -- Bitter government and opposition leaders expressed doubt Monday that Italy's electoral system would ever be reformed, after the narrow defeat of a referendum they believed would end decades of political instability.
Although 91 percent of those who cast ballots Sunday voted in favor of the proposed electoral reforms, not enough people turned out to make the vote valid.The turnout was 49.6 percent -- just short of the 50 percent plus one required.
Premier Massimo D'Alema called the result a "loss for democracy" and criticized the tactics used by some opponents of the referendum who encouraged voters to stay home.
Since World War II, Italians have voted in 46 referendums aimed at bringing reforms the divided parliament couldn't bring about. Italians have relied on such votes to end the monarchy and bring about laws legalizing divorce and abortion.
Sunday's low turnout was interpreted by some as a sign Italians have lost faith in political action through referendums.
"Yesterday's vote was a cruel mirror of an Italy that has stopped believing in novelties, that has turned its back on political movements and that is tired of great reforms," wrote La Stampa newspaper of Turin.
The referendum proposed abolishing the proportional representation system used to divvy up 25 percent of the seats in the lower Chamber of Deputies.
The proportional system lets even tiny parties wield enough power to bring down a shaky coalition or thwart passage of legislation. It has been blamed for Italy's revolving door governments: 56 since the end of World War II.
Most parties in Premier Massimo D'Alema's center-left coalition, and many in the opposition, backed Sunday's referendum.