Countdown to Italy's future

Italy’s Five Star Movement (M5S) is planning street celebrations if prime minister Matteo Renzi is defeated in Sunday’s (4 December) constitutional referendum, paving the way for his resignation.

But an unusually high number of postal votes cast by Italian expats may spoil the opposition’s party plans and even trigger a legal fight about the vote's outcome.

Some 50 million people have been called to approve or reject changes that would effectively concentrate powers in the hands o...