Press TV – March 22, 2014
People in Venice and its surrounding region have voted in an online poll to split from the rest of Italy and establish their own independent state.
More than two million residents of the Veneto region participated in the week-long survey, with 89 percent voting in favor of secession from Italy.
The online vote, organized by local pro-independence parties, is not legally binding but is only meant to muster support for a bill calling for a referendum.
The Indipendenza Veneta party behind the bill says the separatist campaign is driven by the Italian government’s alleged inability to stem corruption, protect Venice’s citizens from a debilitating recession and control waste water in the poorer south.
Supporters say the new Republic of Veneto would be inspired by the ancient Venetian Republic, which existed from the seventh century until its fall to Napoleon in 1797.
Critics argue that an attempt to break away from Italy could be unconstitutional.