Italian general election, 1953

Italian general election, 1953

7 June 1953

All 590 seats to the Italian Chamber of Deputies and 237 (of the 243) seats to the Italian Senate Turnout 93.8%   Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Alcide De Gasperi Palmiro Togliatti Pietro Nenni Party Christian Democracy Communist Party Socialist Party Leader since 1944 1938 1931 Last election 305 & 131 seats, 48.5% 130 & 50 seats, inside the Front 53 & 22 seats, inside the Front Seats won 263 (H) 116 (S) 143 (H) 56 (S) 75 (H) 30 (S) Seat change 57 19 30 Popular vote 10,862,073 6,120,809 3,441,014 Percentage 40.1% 22.6% 12.7% Swing 8.4% 0.6%[1] 3.7%[1]

Legislative election results map. Light Blue denotes provinces with a Christian Democratic plurality, Red denotes those with a Communist plurality, Gray denotes those with an Autonomist 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 7, 1953, to choose the Second Republican Parliament.^[2] They were a test for leading centrist coalition ruled by Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi.

The Scam Law

The election was characterized by changes in the electoral law. Even if the general structure remained uncorrupted, the government introduced a superbonus of two thirds of seats in the House for the coalition which would obtain at-large the absolute majority of votes. The change was hugely opposed by the opposition parties as well as the smaller DC coalition partners, which had no realistic chances of success. The new law was called Scam Law by its detractors,^[3] including some dissidents of minor government parties who founded special opposition groups to deny the artificial landslide to the Christian Democracy.

Historical background

In the 1950s Italy became a founding member of the NATO alliance (1949), a member of the United Nations (1955) and an ally of the United States, which helped to revive the Italian economy through the Marshall Plan. In the same years, Italy also became a founding member of the ECSC (1952) and of the European Economic Community (1957), later developed into the European Union. At the end of the 1950s an impressive economic growth was termed "Economic Miracle". Italian families used their newfound wealth to purchase consumer durables for the first time. Between 1958 and 1965, the percentage of families owning a television rose from 12% to 49%, washing machines from 3% to 23%, and fridges from 13% to 55%. As noted by the historian Paul Ginsborg

Christian Democracy's main support areas (sometimes known as "vote tanks") were the rural areas in South, Center and North-East Italy, whereas the industrial North-West had more left-leaning support because of the larger working class. An interesting exception were the "red regions" (Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Umbria) where the Italian Communist Party has historically had a wide support. This is considered a consequence of the particular sharecropping ("mezzadria") farming contracts used in these regions.

The Holy See actively supported the Christian Democracy, judging it would be a mortal sin for a Catholic to vote for the Communist party and excommunicating all its supporters. In practice, however, many Communists remained religious: Emilia was known to be an area where people were both religious and communists. Giovanni Guareschi wrote his novels about Don Camillo describing a village, Brescello, whose inhabitants are at the same time loyal to priest Camillo and communist mayor Peppone, who are fierce rivals.

In 1953, a Parliamentary Commission on poverty estimated that 24% of Italian families were either “destitute” or “in hardship,” 21% of dwellings were overcrowded, 52% of homes in the south had no running drinking water, and only 57% had a lavatory.^[4] In the 1950s, several important reforms were launched: e.g. agrarian reform (legge Scelba), fiscal reform (legge Vanoni), and the country enjoyed a period of extraordinary economic development (miracolo economico, economic miracle). In this period of time, a massive population transfer, from the impoverished South to the booming industrial North, took place. This however exacerbated social contrasts, including between the old-established "worker aristocracy" and the new less qualified immigrants ("operaio-massa") of Southern origin. In addition, a wide gap between rich and poor continued to exist. By the end of the Sixties, it was estimated that 4 million Italians (out of a population of 54.5 million) were unemployed, underemployed, and casual labourers. As noted by the historian Paul Ginsborg, the affluent society to this section of the Italian population “might have meant a television set but precious little else.”

Parties and leaders

Results

The complaint campaign of the oppositions against the Scam Law reached its goal. The Centrist coalition (DC, PSDI, PLI, PRI, SVP, PSAZ) was stopped at an incredible 49.9% of national vote, resulting in the ordinary proportional distribution of the seats. Minor dissident parties resulted determinant for the final result, especially the short-lived National Democratic Alliance. Leading party Christian Democracy did not repeat the extraordinary result of five years before, which had been obtained under special conditions linked to the Cold War, and lost a lot of votes to the right wing, which included resurgent fascist politicians particularly in Southern Italy.

Technically, the government won the election, reaching the majority of seats in both houses. But the frustration for the lack of the expected result caused big problems to the leading coalition. De Gasperi was forced to resign by the Parliament on August 2: the Trentin statesman consequently retired and died twelve months later. The legislature continued with weak governments, with minor parties refusing institutional responsibilities. Giuseppe Pella rose to power, but fell after five months only, following strong disputes about the status of the Free Territory of Trieste which Pella was claiming. Amintore Fanfani not receiving a vote of confidence, Mario Scelba and Antonio Segni followed with more traditional centrist coalitions supported by PSDI and PLI: under the administration of the first one, the problem of Trieste was closed ceding Koper to Yugoslavia. The parliamentary term was closed by the minority government chaired by Adone Zoli, finishing a legislature which hugely weakened the office of the Prime Minister, held by six different rulers.

Chamber of Deputies

← Summary of the 18 April 1958 Chamber of Deputies election results →

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/−
	Christian Democracy	10,862,073	40.10	263	−41
	Italian Communist Party	6,120,809	22.60	143	+13
	Italian Socialist Party	3,441,014	12.70	75	+22
	Monarchist National Party	1,854,850	6.85	40	+26
	Italian Social Movement	1,582,154	5.84	29	+23
	Italian Democratic Socialist Party	1,222,957	4.51	19	−14
	Italian Liberal Party	815,929	3.01	13	−6
	Italian Republican Party	438,149	1.62	5	−4
	Independent Socialist Unity	225,409	0.83	0	New
	Popular Unity	171,099	0.63	0	New
	South Tyrolean People's Party	122,474	0.45	3	±0
	National Democratic Alliance	120,685	0.45	0	New
	Sardinian Action Party	27,231	0.10	0	−1
	Others	82,886	0.31	0	±0
Invalid/blank votes		1,318,778	–	–	–
Total		28,406,479	100	590	+16
Registered voters/turnout		30,272,236	93.84	–	–
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Senate of the Republic

← Summary of the 18 April 1953 Senate of the Republic election results →

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/−
	Christian Democracy	9,660,210	39.76	112	−19
	Italian Communist Party	4,910,077	20.21	52	+6
	Italian Socialist Party	2,891,605	11.90	26	−15
	Monarchist National Party	1,581,128	6.51	14	+10
	Italian Social Movement	1,473,645	6.07	9	+8
	Italian Democratic Socialist Party	1,046,301	4.31	4	−4
	Italian Liberal Party	695,816	2.86	3	−4
	Italian Republican Party	261,713	1.08	0	−4
	Popular Unity	172,545	0.71	0	New
	National Democratic Alliance	165,845	0.68	1	New
	South Tyrolean People's Party	107,139	0.44	2	±0
	Others	1,330,253	5.48	9	±0
Invalid/blank votes		1,173,850	–	–	–
Total		25,483,201	100	237	±0
Registered voters/turnout		27,172,871	93.8	–	–
Source: Ministry of the Interior

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
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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