"Whatever happens at the referendum, we will be voting in 2018," Renzi said late Sunday, as quoted by the Quotidiano newspaper.
He added that in case of a 'no' vote victory, he would resign.
Last general elections in Italy were held in February 2013. Under the current Italian Constitution, voters elect 630 members of the Chamber of Deputies and 315 members of the Senate of the Republic. The constitutional reform to be decided upon in the referendum would see the Senate replaced in the 2018 elections with an indirectly elected body, which would be composed of 100 members, namely 95 selected from regional councils and 5 appointed by the country's President.
The constitutional reform has already been passed in the both parliamentary bodies, but requires an approval in the popular vote before it comes into force.
