Italian general election, 1946

Italian general election, 1946
Italy
2 June 1946

All 556 seats to the Italian Constituent Assembly
Turnout 89.1%
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Leader Alcide De Gasperi Pietro Nenni Palmiro Togliatti
Party Christian Democracy Socialist Party Communist Party
Leader since 1944 1931 1938
Leader's seat VIII - Trentin Whole Italy Whole Italy
Seats won 207 115 104
Popular vote 8,101,004 4,758,129 4,356,686
Percentage 35.2% 20.7% 18.9%

Legislative election results map. Light Blue denotes provinces with a Christian Democratic plurality, Red denotes those with a Communist plurality, Salmon denotes those with a Socialist plurality.

Prime Minister before election

Alcide De Gasperi
Christian Democracy

New Prime Minister

Alcide De Gasperi
Christian Democracy

General elections were held in Italy on Sunday June 2, 1946.[1] They were the first after World War II and elected 556 deputies to the Constituent Assembly. Theoretically, a total of 573 deputies were to be elected, but the election did not take place in the Julian March and in South Tyrol, which were under military occupation by the United Nations.

For the first time, Italian women were allowed to vote in a national election. Electors had two votes: one to elect the representatives and one to choose the institutional form of the state.

Electoral system

To emphasise the restoration of democracy after the fascist era, a pure party-list proportional representation was chosen. Italian provinces were united in 31 constituencies, each electing a group of candidates.[2] At constituency level, seats were divided between open lists using the largest remainder method with the Imperiali quota. Remaining votes and seats were transferred at national level, where special closed lists of national leaders received the last seats using the Hare quota.

Campaign

At the end of World War II, Italy was governed under transitional laws as a result of agreements between the National Liberation Committee (CLN) and the royal Lieutenant General of the Realm Humbert II. As no democratic elections had taken place for more than 20 years, legislative power was given to the government but, after the first election, the Italian Council of Ministers would have to receive a vote of confidence by the new Constituent Assembly.

The three main contestants were Christian Democracy and the Socialist Party, which had both received popular support before the fascist era, and the Communist Party, which had strengthened itself with the armed struggle against Nazism and fascism during the war. The Italian Liberal Party, heir of the pre-fascist and conservative ruling class, proposed an alliance called National Democratic Union. Monarchists groups created the National Bloc of Freedom, while the social liberal Action Party and Labour Democratic Party hoped to maximize the positive image of the governments that they ruled in the National Liberation Committee.

Parties and leaders

Party Ideology Leader
Christian Democracy (DC) Christian democracy, Popularism Alcide De Gasperi
Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity (PSIUP) Socialism, Democratic socialism Pietro Nenni
Italian Communist Party (PCI) Communism, Marxism-Leninism Palmiro Togliatti
National Democratic Union (UDN) Liberalism, Conservatism Manlio Brosio
Common Man's Front (UQ) Populism, Conservatism Guglielmo Giannini
Italian Republican Party (PRI) Republicanism, Social liberalism Randolfo Pacciardi
National Bloc of Freedom (BNL) Conservatism, Monarchism Alfredo Covelli
Action Party (PdA) Republicanism, Liberal socialism Ferruccio Parri

Results

The election gave a large majority to the government formed by the three leaders of the CLN, which were briefly joined by the Republican Party after the exile of Humbert II. The alliance lasted for a year.

Summary of the 2 June 1946 Constituent Assembly election results
Party Votes % Seats
Christian Democracy8,101,00435.21207
Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity4,758,12920.68115
Italian Communist Party4,356,68618.93104
National Democratic Union[3]1,560,6386.7841
Common Man's Front1,211,9565.2730
Italian Republican Party1,003,0074.3623
National Bloc of Freedom637,3282.7716
Action Party334,7481.457
Sicilian Independentist Movement171,2010.744
Party of Italian Peasants102,3930.441
Republican Democratic Concentration97,6900.422
Sardinian Action Party78,5540.342
Italian Unionist Movement71,0210.311
Social Christian Party51,0880.221
Labour Democratic Party40,6330.181
Republican Progressive Democratic Front
(PSI-PCI-PRI-PdA for Aosta Valley)
21,8530.091
Others412,5501.790
Invalid/blank votes1,936,708
Total24,947,187100.00556
Registered voters/turnout28,005,44989.08

Source: Italian Ministry of Interior

Popular vote
DC
 
35.21%
PSIUP
 
20.68%
PCI
 
18.93%
UDN
 
6.78%
UQ
 
5.27%
PRI
 
4.36%
BNL
 
2.77%
PdA
 
1.45%
Others
 
4.53%

Referendum

Together with the election, a constitutional referendum took place. Italian electors had to choose if they wanted to continue the reign of Humbert II of Savoy or to turn Italy into a republic. While all regions of Northern Italy as far as Tuscany and Marches gave a majority to the republic, all regions of Southern Italy to Lazio and Abruzzo voted to maintain the monarchy.

Constitutional form of the Italian State vote %
Republic 12,718,641 54.3%
Monarchy 10,718,502 45.7%
Invalid ballots 1,509,735
Total 24,946,878 100%

References

  1. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1047 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. The number of seats for each constituency ranged from 1 for Aosta Valley to 36 for Milan.
  3. The Labour Democratic Party ran within the banner of the National Democratic Union in most regions.
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