1968 Italian general election
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All 630 seats in the Italian Chamber of Deputies 316 seats were needed for a majority in the Chamber 315 (of the 322) seats in the Italian Senate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 92.8% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Legislative election results map. Yellow denotes provinces with a Christian Democratic plurality, Red denotes those with a Communist plurality, Gray denotes those with an Autonomist plurality. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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General elections were held in Italy on May 19, 1968.[2] Democrazia Cristiana (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 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 Socialist Party, but gained c. 15%, far less than the sum of what the two parties had obtained separatedly 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.
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
Senate
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| style="background-color:Template:Christian Democracy (Italy)/meta/color"| | Christian Democracy | 10,965,790 | 38.3 | 135 | +6 |
| style="background-color:Template:Italian Communist Party/meta/color"| | PCI-PSIUP | 8,583,285 | 30.0 | 101 | +17 |
| style="background-color:Template:Italian Socialist Party/meta/color"| | Unified PSI–PSDI | 4,355,506 | 15.2 | 46 | –12 |
| style="background-color:Template:Italian Liberal Party/meta/color"| | Italian Liberal Party | 1,936,943 | 6.8 | 16 | –2 |
| style="background-color:Template:Italian Social Movement/meta/color"| | Italian Social Movement | 1,380,452 | 4.8 | 11 | –3 |
| style="background-color:Template:Italian Republican Party/meta/color"| | Italian Republican Party | 620,658 | 2.2 | 2 | +2 |
| style="background-color:Template:South Tyrolean People's Party/meta/color"| | South Tyrolean People's Party | 131,080 | 0.5 | 2 | 0 |
| Italian Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity | 308,916 | 1.1 | 2 | –1 | |
| Others | 318,617 | 1.1 | 0 | – | |
| Invalid/blank votes | 1,611,454 | – | – | – | |
| Total | 30,212,701 | 100 | 315 | 0 | |
| Registered voters/turnout | 32,528,271 | 92.9 | – | – | |
| Source: Nohlen & Stöver | |||||
References
- ^ In the coalition Unified PSI–PSDI, with the Italian Democratic Socialist Party.
- ^ Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1048 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
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