ROME -- Almost two weeks before the set date for the Italian constitutional referendum vote, the latest surveys reveal that the Yes/No split is pretty equal, with a potential slight prevalence for No, the Tecnè Italian institute of research said Friday.

 Tecnè estimated that those leaning towards No are between 52 to 54 percent, while those leaning towards Yes make up about 46 to 48 percent of voters. However, this difference between these percentages is so slight that the result could easily go either way on Dec. 4.

 This means that the undecided last-minute voters, currently estimated to be around 20 percent, are very important for the outcome of the result, Il Messaggero reports.

 For the president of the Tecnè Institute Carlo Buttaroni, who gives his own more specific predictions, the Yes voters are currently at 46.5 percent, and the No voters at 53.5 -- this percentage is in rise mostly in the south and the north east of Italy.

 However, in this run up period, Il Messaggero writes that interesting things are happening -- “The number of voters who think that this reform is fundamental for Italy is falling, it is no longer judged to be the universal view. Furthermore, the vast majority of the undecided is made up of those voters who voted for the parties that are today against the reform,” said Buttaroni.

 It appears that many of these undecided voters could be in doubt as to whether to follow their political party or to choose for themselves. A study carried out by the SWG survey institute found that amongst the 21.1 percent of undecided voters, more are in favour of the constitutional reform than not -- 39 percent to 21 -- while the rest declare themselves neutral.

 The same SWG study concludes that those leaning more towards the Yes vote will be more likely to turn their inkling into a real vote, whereas the No voters might not. All is to play for.

 nkd