Italian general election, 1946

Italian general election, 1946

1934 ← 2 June 1946 → 1948

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 DC PSI PCI Leader since 1944 1931 1938 Leader's seat VIII - Trentino 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. White denotes provinces with a Christian Democratic plurality, Red denotes those with a Communist plurality, Purple denotes those with a Socialist plurality.

Prime Minister before election Alcide De Gasperi DC New Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi DC

General elections were held in Italy on 2 June 1946. They were the first after World War II and elected 556 deputies to a Constituent Assembly. Theoretically, the deputies to be chosen were 573, but the election didn't take place in 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 emphasize 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. 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.

The race

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. No democratic elections having taken place for more than twenty 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 newly-elected Constituent Assembly.

The three main contestants were: the Christian Democracy and the Socialist Party, which had received great results even 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 a National Bloc of Freedom, while social liberal Action Party and Labour Democratic Party hoped to maximalize positive image of the governments they ruled inside the National Liberation Committee.

Results

The Constituent Assembly

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.

See also: Graph of Italian general elections

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Christian Democracy	8,101,004	35.21	207
	Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity	4,758,129	20.68	115
	Italian Communist Party	4,356,686	18.93	104
	National Democratic Union	1,560,638	6.78	41
	Front of the Ordinary Man	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	89.1	–

Source: Italian Ministry of Interior

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 from Latium 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%

Further information: Italian constitutional referendum, 1946