Italian general election, 1946

Italian general election, 1946

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

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 Democracy	8,101,004	35.21	207
	Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity	4,758,129	20.68	115
	Italian Communist Party	4,356,686	18.93	104
	National Democratic Union[3]	1,560,638	6.78	41
	Common Man's Front	1,211,956	5.27	30
	Italian Republican Party	1,003,007	4.36	23
	National Bloc of Freedom	637,328	2.77	16
	Action Party	334,748	1.45	7
	Sicilian Independentist Movement	171,201	0.74	4
	Party of Italian Peasants	102,393	0.44	1
	Republican Democratic Concentration	97,690	0.42	2
	Sardinian Action Party	78,554	0.34	2
	Italian Unionist Movement	71,021	0.31	1
	Social Christian Party	51,088	0.22	1
	Labour Democratic Party	40,633	0.18	1
	Republican Progressive Democratic Front (PSI-PCI-PRI-PdA for Aosta Valley)	21,853	0.09	1
	Others	412,550	1.79	0
Invalid/blank votes		1,936,708	–	–
Total		24,947,187	100.00	556
Registered voters/turnout		28,005,449	89.08	–

Source: Italian Ministry of Interior

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

Elections and referendums in Italy
General elections	1861 1865 1867 1870 1874 1876 1880 1882 1886 1890 1892 1895 1897 1900 1904 1909 1913 1919 1921 1924 1929 1934 1946 1948 1953 1958 1963 1968 1972 1976 1979 1983 1987 1992 1994 1996 2001 2006 2008 2013 next
European elections	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014
Regional elections	1947 1949 1951 1953 1954 1955 1957 1959 1961 1963 1964 1965 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1973 1974 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1981 1983 1984 1985 1986 1988 1989 1990 1991 1993 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2001 2003 2004 2005 2006 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Local elections	1946 1951 1956 1960 1964 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Referendums	1946 1974 1978 1981 1985 1987 1989 1990 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2000 2001 2003 2005 2006 2009 2011 2016 (Apr) 2016 (Dec)
See also: Elections in Abruzzo Aosta Valley Apulia Basilicata Calabria Campania Emilia-Romagna Friuli-Venezia Giulia Lazio Liguria Lombardy Marche Molise Piedmont Sardinia Sicily Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol Tuscany Umbria Veneto