1946 Italian general election

none Kingdom of Italy legislative 1934 Italian general election 1934 1948 Italian general election 1948 556 of the 573 seats in the Constituent AssemblyA total of 573 seats were allocated, but polls were not held in the Julian March or South Tyrol, these areas being under Allied occupation at the time 279 2–3 June 1946 28,005,449 89.08% Alcide de Gasperi 2.jpg 120 120 160 Alcide De Gasperi Christian Democracy (Italy) Trento 207 8,101,004 35.21% Pietro Nenni 2.jpg 120 120 160 Pietro Nenni PSIUP Whole Italy 115 4,758,129 20.68% Palmiro Togliatti (cropped).png 120 120 160 Palmiro Togliatti Italian Communist Party Whole Italy 104 4,356,686 18.93% Collective leadership National Democratic Union (Italy) 2975C2 N/A 41 1,560,638 6.78% Guglielmogiannini.jpg 120 120 160 Guglielmo Giannini Common Man's Front Rome 30 1,211,956 5.27% Randolfo Pacciardi (2).jpg 120 120 160 Randolfo Pacciardi Italian Republican Party Pisa 23 1,003,007 4.36% 200px 200px On the left, results of the election by province. On the right, the seat distribution by constituency. Prime Minister Prime Minister after the election Alcide De Gasperi Christian Democracy (Italy) Alcide De Gasperi Christian Democracy (Italy) General elections were held in Italy on Sunday 2 and also on Monday 3 June (but until noon) 1946.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1047 978-3-8329-5609-7 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 and run for a seat in the Constituent Assembly. This election was held concurrently with the 1946 Italian institutional referendum on the abolition of the monarchy. 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.The number of seats for each constituency ranged from 1 for Aosta Valley to 36 for Milan. 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 Umberto II of Italy. 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 Italian Socialist Party, which had both received popular support before the fascist era, and the Italian 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 liberal socialist 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 PartyIdeologyLeader Christian Democracy (DC) Christian democracy Alcide De Gasperi Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity (PSIUP) Socialism Pietro Nenni Italian Communist Party (PCI) Communism Palmiro Togliatti National Democratic Union (UDN) Liberalism Collective leadership Common Man's Front (FUQ) Populism Guglielmo Giannini Italian Republican Party (PRI) Republicanism Randolfo Pacciardi National Bloc of Freedom (BNL) Monarchism Alfredo Covelli, Roberto Lucifero d'Aprigliano Action Party (PdA) Liberal socialism Riccardo Lombardi Results The election gave a large majority to the government formed by the three leaders of the CLN, which was briefly joined by the Republican Party after the exile of Umberto II. The alliance lasted for a year. File:Italian Parliament, 1946.svg Christian Democracy 8101004 207 Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity 4758129 115 Italian Communist Party 4356686 104 National Democratic Union 1560638 41 Italian Liberal Party Common Man's Front 1211956 30 Italian Republican Party 1003007 23 National Bloc of Freedom 637328 16 royalblue Action Party 334748 7 Movement for the Independence of Sicily 171201 4 Peasants' Party of Italy 102393 1 Republican Democratic Concentration 97690 2 green Sardinian Action Party 78554 2 Italian Unionist Movement 71021 1 #515093 Social Christian Party 51088 1 Labour Democratic Party 40633 1 National Reconstruction Movement 39748 0 #76a159 Independent Democratic Union of Labour 36398 0 #d0504e Italian Republican Alliance 34363 0 #3e914e Italian Monarchical Alliance 30505 0 #5f77bf Italian Monarchical Democratic Movement 30017 0 #3d6f7c Party of the Italian Veteran 24764 0 Combatants' Party Internationalist Communist Party 22644 0 Republican Progressive Democratic FrontAlliance between PSIUP, PCI, PRI and Action Party in Aosta Valley. The election happened in a single-member constituency with the first-past-the-post method, with candidate Giulio Bordon winning 51.79% of valid votes. 21853 1 #da5757 National Concentration of Combatants and Veterans 21570 0 #5e7c5d Union of Combatants, Partisans, Veterans and Prisoner Families 14383 0 #86433a National Union Party 12746 0 #5869c3 Fighters and Independents Group 12165 0 # Patriotic Monarchist Renewing Party 11098 0 Sardinian League 10499 0 Sicilian Independent Labour Party 10246 0 National War Victims Union 10236 0 Veterans Partisans 8690 0 Independent Workers Movement 8596 0 Italian Pacifist League 6333 0 Independent Sicilians of the Left 5706 0 Union for the Renaissance of the South 5373 0 Italian Political Centre 5063 0 Italian Centre 4516 0 UDLLIDIM Democratic Union Freedom and Work and Independents for the Defence of the Interests of the South 4207 0 Italian Liberal Party 4052 0 Italian Labour Party 3891 0 Socialist Republican Party 3611 0 National Deployment 2781 0 Socialist Reformist Party 2234 0 Political Group of Italians from Sicily, Africa and the Mediterranean 1995 0 Garibaldian Antifascist Partisan Movement of Italy 1922 0 Independent Internationalist Communist Union 1776 0 Young Italy 985 0 Italian Progressive Party 780 0 Autonomous Republican Party 683 0 General Confederation of Italian Feminists for Work 662 0 Independents 17312 0 1936708 0 28005449 Ministry of InteriorMinistry of Interior Popular vote #ddd 550px 500px DC Christian Democracy (Italy) 35.21 PSIUP Italian Socialist Party 20.68 PCI Italian Communist Party 18.93 UDN Italian Liberal Party 6.78 FUQ darkblue 5.27 PRI Italian Republican Party 4.36 BNL royalblue 2.77 PdA Action Party (Italy) 1.45 Others Other 4.53 Parliamentary seats #ddd 550px 500px DC Christian Democracy (Italy) 37.23 PSIUP Italian Socialist Party 20.68 PCI Italian Communist Party 18.71 UDN Italian Liberal Party 7.37 FUQ darkblue 5.40 PRI Italian Republican Party 4.14 BNL royalblue 2.88 PdA Action Party (Italy) 1.26 Others Other 2.34 By constituency ConstituencyTotalseatsSeats wonDCPSIUPPCIUDNFUQPRIBNLPdAOthersTurin259961Cuneo1674311Genoa16655Milan34121291Como12651Brescia15942Mantua8332Trentino431Verona271584Venice13742Udine11641Bologna224792Parma19667Florence12435Pisa135341Siena8224Ancona135332Perugia93231Rome2911342252L'Aquila1272111Benevento7421Naples271122642Avellino124113111Bari1872414Lecce1251123Potenza52111Catanzaro218233212Catania2310314212Palermo218323212Cagliari1161112Aosta Valley11National801291311109574Total55620711510441302316713 Referendum 1946 Italian institutional referendum Together with the election, a constitutional referendum took place. Italian electors chose whether to continue the reign of Umberto II of Italy or 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. Republic 12717923 Monarchy 10719284 1498136 28005449 Official GazetteOfficial Gazette Notes References Category:General elections in Italy General election Italy