By Angelo Amante ROME (Reuters) -Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni snubbed a referendum on easing citizenship laws but has emerged stronger from the vote as the leftist opposition failed to mobilise mass opposition to her right-wing government after nearly three years in power.

It was a clear defeat for the center-left opposition and a victory for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the ruling right-wing coalition, who openly supported abstaining from voting.

One of the five referendums is about reducing the period of residence required to apply for Italian citizenship by naturalisation to five years from 10 years. This could affect about 2.5 million foreign nationals,