1968 Italian general election

none Italy legislative 1963 Italian general election 1963 Legislature IV of Italy 1972 Italian general election 1972 Legislature V of Italy All 630 seats in the Chamber of Deputies316 seats needed for a majorityAll 315 elective seats in the Senate162 seats needed for a majoritytaking into account the Senators for life, which accounted for 7 seats at the time the election took place 19 May 1968 35,566,493 (C Chamber of Deputies)32,517,638 (S Senate) 33,001,644 (C Chamber of Deputies)92.8% (0.1 pp) 30,252,921 (S Senate)93.0% (0.1 pp) Mariano Rumor daticamera.jpg 120 120 160 Mariano Rumor 27 January 1964 Christian Democracy (Italy) Verona (C Chamber of Deputies) 266 (C Chamber of Deputies) / 135 (S Senate) 6 (C Chamber of Deputies) / 6 (S Senate) 12,441,553 (C Chamber of Deputies) 10,972,114 (S Senate) 39.1% (C Chamber of Deputies) 38.3% (S Senate) 0.8 pp (C Chamber of Deputies) 1.8 pp (S Senate) Luigi Longo 1968.jpg 120 120 160 Luigi Longo 22 August 1964 Italian Communist Party Milan (C Chamber of Deputies) 177 (C Chamber of Deputies) / 101 (S Senate)pci In a joint list with the PSIUP. 11 (C Chamber of Deputies) / 17 (S Senate) 8,557,404 (C Chamber of Deputies) 8,585,601 (S Senate)pci 26.9% (C Chamber of Deputies) 30.0% (S Senate)pci 1.6 pp (C Chamber of Deputies) 6.5 pp (S Senate) Francesco De Martino.jpg 120 120 160 Francesco De MartinoAs secretary of the main party within the coalition, the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). 12 December 1963 PSU Naples (C Chamber of Deputies) 91 (C Chamber of Deputies) / 46 (S Senate) 29 (C Chamber of Deputies) / 12 (S Senate) 4,605,832 (C Chamber of Deputies) 4,354,906 (S Senate) 14.5% (C Chamber of Deputies) 15.2% (S Senate) 5.5 pp (C Chamber of Deputies)psu Considering the votes of the PSI and of the PSDI.5.1 pp (S Senate)psu Giovanni Malagodi 1972.jpg 120 120 160 Giovanni Malagodi 4 April 1954 Italian Liberal Party Milan (C Chamber of Deputies) 31 (C Chamber of Deputies) / 16 (S Senate) 8 (C Chamber of Deputies) / 2 (S Senate) 1,850,650 (C Chamber of Deputies) 1,943,795 (S Senate) 5.1% (C Chamber of Deputies) 6.8% (S Senate) 1.2 pp (C Chamber of Deputies)0.6 pp (S Senate) Arturo Michelini (cropped).jpg 120 120 160 Arturo Michelini 10 October 1954 Italian Social Movement Rome (C Chamber of Deputies) 24 (C Chamber of Deputies) / 11 (S Senate) 3 (C Chamber of Deputies) / 3 (S Senate) 1,414,036 (C Chamber of Deputies) 1,304,847 (S Senate) 4.5% (C Chamber of Deputies)4.6% (S Senate) 0.6 pp (C Chamber of Deputies)0.7 pp (S Senate) Tullio Vecchietti 1968.jpg 120 120 160 Tullio Vecchietti 12 January 1964 PSIUP Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity Rome (C Chamber of Deputies) 23 (C Chamber of Deputies) / w. PCI (S Senate) New party 1,414,697 (C Chamber of Deputies) w. PCI (S Senate) 4.5% (C Chamber of Deputies) w. PCI (S Senate) New party 450px Results of the election in the Chamber and Senate Prime Minister Prime Minister after the election Aldo Moro Christian Democracy (Italy) Giovanni Leone Christian Democracy (Italy) The 1968 Italian general election was held in Italy on 19 May 1968.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1048 978-3-8329-5609-7 The Christian Democracy (DC) remained stable around 38% of the votes. They were marked by a victory of the Communist Party (PCI) passing from 25% of 1963 to c. 30% at the Senate, where it presented jointly with the new Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity (PSIUP), which included members of the Socialist Party (PSI) which disagreed the latter's alliance with DC. PSIUP gained c. 4.5% at the Chamber. The Socialist Party and the Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI) presented together as the Unified PSI–PSDI, but gained c. 15%, far less than the sum of what the two parties had obtained separately in 1963. Electoral system The pure party-list proportional representation had traditionally become the electoral system for the Chamber of Deputies. Italian provinces were united in 32 constituencies, each electing a group of candidates. At constituency level, seats were divided between open lists using the largest remainder method with Imperiali quota. Remaining votes and seats were transferred at national level, where they was divided using the Hare quota, and automatically distributed to best losers into the local lists. For the Senate, 237 single-seat constituencies were established, even if the assembly had risen to 315 members. The candidates needed a landslide victory of two thirds of votes to be elected, a goal which could be reached only by the German minorities in South Tirol. All remained votes and seats were grouped in party lists and regional constituencies, where a D'Hondt method was used: inside the lists, candidates with the best percentages were elected. Historical background On 21 August 1964, the historic leader of the Italian Communist Party, Palmiro Togliatti died of cerebral haemorrhageAgosti Aldo Palmiro Togliatti: A Biography 30 July 2008 https://books.google.com/books?id=V30AAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA291 London I. B. Tauris 291–292 978-1-84511-726-9 6 July 2015 while vacationing with his companion Nilde Iotti in Yalta, then in the Soviet Union. According to some of his collaborators, Togliatti was travelling to the Soviet Union in order to give his support to Leonid Brezhnev's election as Nikita Khrushchev's successor at the head of Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Togliatti was replaced by Luigi Longo, a long-time prominent PCI member; Longo continued Togliatti's line, known as the "Italian road to Socialism", playing down the alliance between the Italian Communist Party and the USSR. He reacted without hostility to the new left movements that sprang up in 1968 and, among the leaders of the PCI, was one of those most disposed to engage with the new activists, although he did not condone their excesses. Moreover, Francesco De Martino, became the new Secretary of the Italian Socialist Party, after the resignation of Pietro Nenni, due to age. In 1965, the SIFAR intelligence agency was transformed into the SID following an aborted coup d'état, Piano Solo, which was to give power to the Carabinieri, at that time headed by general De Lorenzo. The difficult equilibrium of Italian society was challenged by a rising left-wing movement, in the wake of 1968 student unrest ("Sessantotto"). This movement was characterized by such heterogeneous events as revolts by jobless farm workers (Avola, Battipaglia 1969), occupations of Universities by students, social unrest in the large Northern factories (1969 autunno caldo, hot autumn). While conservative forces tried to roll back some of the social changes of the 1960s, and part of the military indulged in "sabre rattling" in order to intimidate progressive political forces, numerous left-wing activists became increasingly frustrated at social inequalities, while the myth of guerrilla (Che Guevara, the Uruguayan Tupamaros) and of the Chinese Maoist "cultural revolution" increasingly inspired extreme left-wing violent movements. Social protests, in which the student movement was particularly active, shook Italy during the 1969 autunno caldo (Hot Autumn), leading to the occupation of the Fiat factory in Turin. In March 1968, clashes occurred at La Sapienza university in Rome, during the "Battle of Valle Giulia." Mario Capanna, associated with the New Left, was one of the figures of the student movement, along with the members of Potere Operaio and Autonomia Operaia such as (Antonio Negri, Oreste Scalzone, Franco Piperno and of Lotta Continua such as Adriano Sofri. Parties and leaders Party Ideology LeaderSeats in 1963C Chamber of DeputiesS Senate of the RepublicTotal Christian Democracy (DC) Christian democracy Mariano Rumor 260 132 392 Italian Communist Party (PCI) Communism Luigi Longo 166 84 250 Unified Socialist Party (PSU) Democratic socialism Francesco De Martino 120 58 178 Italian Liberal Party (PLI) Conservative liberalism Giovanni Malagodi 39 18 57 Italian Social Movement (MSI) Neo-fascism Arturo Michelini 27 15 42 Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity (PDIUM) Monarchism Alfredo Covelli 8 2 10 Italian Republican Party (PRI) Liberalism Ugo La Malfa 6 1 7 Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity (PSIUP) Socialism Tullio VecchiettiNew Results The election was a test for the new organization of the socialist area, which was divided between the new revolutionary and Communist-allied Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity and the governmental social-democratic federation between PSI and PSDI. The polls said that the split of the PSIUP in 1964 had not been a purely parliamentary operation, but the reflex of divisions into the leftist electorate. The result shocked the PSI's leadership, causing the sudden sinking of the social-democratic federation, and an alternance of provisional retirements by the government, firstly led by lifetime senator Giovanni Leone and then, through two political crisis, by DC's secretary Mariano Rumor. Unsuccessfully trying to recover its lost leftist electors, the PSI returned to the alliance with the PCI for the regional elections of 1970, so causing another crisis and a new change of premiership, then led by Emilio Colombo, but the government coalition had continuous problems of instability. Influent Giulio Andreotti tried to resurrect the centrist formula in 1972, but he failed, opening the way to the first early election of the republican history. Chamber of Deputies File:Italian Chamber of Deputies 1968.svg Christian Democracy 12437848 266 +6 Italian Communist Party 8551347 177 +11 Unified Socialist Party 4603192 91 −29 Italian Liberal Party 1850650 31 −8 Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity 1414697 23 New Italian Social Movement 1414036 24 −3 Italian Republican Party 626533 9 +3 Italian Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity 414507 6 −2 South Tyrolean People's Party 152991 3 0 Social Democracy 100212 0 New orange New Republic 63402 0 New #56845D Autonomous Party of Italy's Pensioners 41716 0 0 Valdostan Union 31557 0 −1 Sardinian Action Party 27228 0 New National Monarchist Party 18883 0 0 Socialist Movement 6551 0 New Slovene Union 6142 0 0 Socialist Workers' Party 5740 0 New National Union of Public Health 3697 0 0 Technique 3158 0 New Party of Economic Order 3013 0 New Democratic Progressive Party 2208 0 New Farmers' Party 2061 0 New Italian Group 1807 0 New Revolutionary Communist Party 1798 0 New Radical Party 1540 0 New Popular Collection 1196 0 New Sacred Idealism World 1126 0 New Progressive Party U.N.S.I.P.O. 1068 0 New National Party of Italian Mutilated and Combatants 524 0 New 1211216 0 35566493 Ministry of the Interior Popular vote #ddd 550px 500px DC Christian Democracy (Italy) 39.12 PCI Italian Communist Party 26.90 PSU Italian Socialist Party 14.48 PLI Italian Liberal Party 5.82 PSIUP Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity 4.45 MSI Italian Social Movement 4.45 PRI Italian Republican Party 1.97 PDIUM Monarchist National Party 1.30 Others Other 1.50 Seats #ddd 550px 500px DC Christian Democracy (Italy) 42.22 PCI Italian Communist Party 28.10 PSU Italian Socialist Party 14.44 PLI Italian Liberal Party 4.92 MSI Italian Social Movement 3.81 PSIUP Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity 3.65 PRI Italian Republican Party 1.43 PDIUM Monarchist National Party 0.95 Others Other 0.48 Results by constituency ConstituencyTotalseatsSeats wonDCPCIPSUPLIMSIPSIUPPRIPDIUMOthersTurin3211105312Cuneo1573311Genoa2287421Milan47171384221Como1793311Brescia20123311Mantua9432Trentino94113Verona281744111Venice1894311Udine1573311Bologna256124111Parma2069311Florence165821Pisa1556211Siena9351Ancona1776211Perugia1345211Rome471713644111L'Aquila158421Campobasso5311Naples381510513112Benevento2110431111Bari23117311Lecce1995212Potenza8521Catanzaro2611651111Catania2913732211Palermo29127312121Cagliari198521111Aosta Valley11Trieste321Total63026617791312423963 Senate of the Republic File:Italian Senate 1968.svg Christian Democracy 10972114 135 +6 Italian Communist Party–PSIUP 8585601 101 +17 Unified Socialist Party 4354906 46 −12 Italian Liberal Party 1943795 16 −2 Italian Social Movement 1304847 11 −3 Italian Republican Party 622388 2 +2 Italian Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity 312702 2 0 MSI–PDIUM 292349 0 −1 South Tyrolean People's Party 131071 2 0 Social Democracy 36073 0 New orange Valdostan Union 28414 0 0 Sardinian Action Party 25891 0 0 Socialist Workers' Party 5870 0 New 1636900 0 32517638 Ministry of the Interior Popular vote #ddd 550px 500px DC Christian Democracy (Italy) 38.34 PCI–PSIUP Italian Communist Party 30.00 PSU Italian Socialist Party 15.22 PLI Italian Liberal Party 6.79 MSI Italian Social Movement 4.56 PRI Italian Republican Party 2.17 PDIUM Monarchist National Party 1.09 Others Other 1.83 Seats #ddd 550px 500px DC Christian Democracy (Italy) 42.86 PCI–PSIUP Italian Communist Party 32.06 PSU Italian Socialist Party 14.60 PLI Italian Liberal Party 5.08 MSI Italian Social Movement 3.49 PRI Italian Republican Party 0.63 PDIUM Monarchist National Party 0.63 Others Other 0.63 Results by constituency ConstituencyTotalseatsSeats wonDCPCI–PSIUPPSUPLIMSIPRIPDIUMOthersPiedmont2410743Aosta Valley11Lombardy452012841Trentino-Alto Adige7412Veneto2313541Friuli-Venezia Giulia7421Liguria114421Emilia-Romagna2261231Tuscany207103Umbria7241Marche8431Lazio2498322Abruzzo7421Molise22Campania2911841212Apulia2196312Basilicata7421Calabria125421Sicily291193231Sardinia9531Total315135101461611222 Maps 550px|centerSeat distribution by constituency for the Chamber of Deputies (left) and Senate (right) References 1968 General election Category:May 1968 in Italy