1968 Italian general election

The 1968 Italian general election was held in Italy on 19 May 1968.[1] 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 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.

1968 Italian general election
Italy
19 May 1968
Chamber of Deputies

All 630 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
316 seats needed for a majority
Turnout92.79% (Decrease 0.10pp)
PartyLeader % Seats +/–
DC Mariano Rumor 39.12 266 +6
PCI Luigi Longo 26.90 177 +11
PSI–PSDI Francesco De Martino 14.48 91 -29
PLI Giovanni Malagodi 5.82 31 -8
PSIUP Tullio Vecchietti 4.45 23 New
MSI Arturo Michelini 4.45 24 -3
PRI Ugo La Malfa 1.97 9 +3
PDIUM Alfredo Covelli 1.30 6 -2
SVP Silvius Magnago 0.48 3 0
Senate of the Republic

All 315 seats in the Senate of the Republic
162[lower-alpha 1] seats needed for a majority
Turnout93.04% (Decrease 2.84pp)
PartyLeader % Seats +/–
DC Mariano Rumor 38.34 135 +3
PCIPSIUP Luigi Longo 30.00 101 +17
PSI–PSDI Francesco De Martino 15.22 46 -12
PLI Giovanni Malagodi 6.79 16 -2
MSI Arturo Michelini 4.56 11 -4
PRI Ugo La Malfa 2.17 2 +1
PDIUM Alfredo Covelli 1.09 2 0
SVP Silvius Magnago 0.46 2 0
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after the election
Aldo Moro
DC
Giovanni Leone
DC

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 Tyrol. 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 haemorrhage[2] 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 sprung 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, then 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 Leader Seats in 1963
C S Total
Christian Democracy (DC) Christian democracy Mariano Rumor
260
132
392
Italian Communist Party (PCI) Communism Luigi Longo
166
84
250
Unified Socialist Party (PSU) Socialism, Social democracy 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) Republicanism Ugo La Malfa
6
1
7
Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity (PSIUP) Democratic socialism Tullio Vecchietti
New

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

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Christian Democracy12,437,84839.12266+6
Italian Communist Party8,551,34726.90177+11
Unified Socialist Party4,603,19214.4891−29
Italian Liberal Party1,850,6505.8231−8
Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity1,414,6974.4523New
Italian Social Movement1,414,0364.4524−3
Italian Republican Party626,5331.979+3
Italian Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity414,5071.306−2
South Tyrolean People's Party152,9910.4830
Social Democracy100,2120.320New
New Republic63,4020.200New
Autonomous Party of Italy's Pensioners41,7160.1300
Valdostan Union31,5570.100−1
Sardinian Action Party27,2280.090New
National Monarchist Party18,8830.0600
Socialist Movement6,5510.020New
Slovene Union6,1420.0200
Socialist Workers' Party5,7400.020New
National Union of Public Health3,6970.0100
Technique3,1580.010New
Party of Economic Order3,0130.010New
Democratic Progressive Party2,2080.010New
Farmers' Party2,0610.010New
Italian Group1,8070.010New
Revolutionary Communist Party1,7980.010New
Radical Party1,5400.000New
Popular Collection1,1960.000New
Sacred Idealism World1,1260.000New
Progressive Party U.N.S.I.P.O.1,0680.000New
National Party of Italian Mutilated and Combatants5240.000New
Total31,790,428100.006300
Valid votes31,790,42896.33
Invalid/blank votes1,211,2163.67
Total votes33,001,644100.00
Registered voters/turnout35,566,49392.79
Source: Ministry of the Interior
Popular vote
DC
39.12%
PCI
26.90%
PSU
14.48%
PLI
5.82%
PSIUP
4.45%
MSI
4.45%
PRI
1.97%
PDIUM
1.30%
Others
1.50%
Seats
DC
42.22%
PCI
28.10%
PSU
14.44%
PLI
4.92%
MSI
3.81%
PSIUP
3.65%
PRI
1.43%
PDIUM
0.95%
Others
0.48%

Results by constituency

Constituency Total
seats
Seats won
DC PCI PSU PLI MSI PSIUP PRI PDIUM Others
Turin 32 11 10 5 3 1 2
Cuneo 15 7 3 3 1 1
Genoa 22 8 7 4 2 1
Milan 47 17 13 8 4 2 2 1
Como 17 9 3 3 1 1
Brescia 20 12 3 3 1 1
Mantua 9 4 3 2
Trentino 9 4 1 1 3
Verona 28 17 4 4 1 1 1
Venice 18 9 4 3 1 1
Udine 15 7 3 3 1 1
Bologna 25 6 12 4 1 1 1
Parma 20 6 9 3 1 1
Florence 16 5 8 2 1
Pisa 15 5 6 2 1 1
Siena 9 3 5 1
Ancona 17 7 6 2 1 1
Perugia 13 4 5 2 1 1
Rome 47 17 13 6 4 4 1 1 1
L'Aquila 15 8 4 2 1
Campobasso 5 3 1 1
Naples 38 15 10 5 1 3 1 1 2
Benevento 21 10 4 3 1 1 1 1
Bari 23 11 7 3 1 1
Lecce 19 9 5 2 1 2
Potenza 8 5 2 1
Catanzaro 26 11 6 5 1 1 1 1
Catania 29 13 7 3 2 2 1 1
Palermo 29 12 7 3 1 2 1 2 1
Cagliari 19 8 5 2 1 1 1 1
Aosta Valley 1 1
Trieste 3 2 1
Total 630 266 177 91 31 24 23 9 6 3

Senate of the Republic

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Christian Democracy10,972,11438.34135+6
Italian Communist PartyPSIUP8,585,60130.00101+17
Unified Socialist Party4,354,90615.2246−12
Italian Liberal Party1,943,7956.7916−2
Italian Social Movement1,304,8474.5611−3
Italian Republican Party622,3882.172+2
Italian Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity312,7021.0920
MSIPDIUM292,3491.020−1
South Tyrolean People's Party131,0710.4620
Social Democracy36,0730.130New
Valdostan Union28,4140.1000
Sardinian Action Party25,8910.0900
Socialist Workers' Party5,8700.020New
Total28,616,021100.003150
Valid votes28,616,02194.59
Invalid/blank votes1,636,9005.41
Total votes30,252,921100.00
Registered voters/turnout32,517,63893.04
Source: Ministry of the Interior
Popular vote
DC
38.34%
PCIPSIUP
30.00%
PSU
15.22%
PLI
6.79%
MSI
4.56%
PRI
2.17%
PDIUM
1.09%
Others
1.83%
Seats
DC
42.86%
PCIPSIUP
32.06%
PSU
14.60%
PLI
5.08%
MSI
3.49%
PRI
0.63%
PDIUM
0.63%
Others
0.63%

Results by constituency

Constituency Total
seats
Seats won
DC PCIPSIUP PSU PLI MSI PRI PDIUM Others
Piedmont 24 10 7 4 3
Aosta Valley 1 1
Lombardy 45 20 12 8 4 1
Trentino-Alto Adige 7 4 1 2
Veneto 23 13 5 4 1
Friuli-Venezia Giulia 7 4 2 1
Liguria 11 4 4 2 1
Emilia-Romagna 22 6 12 3 1
Tuscany 20 7 10 3
Umbria 7 2 4 1
Marche 8 4 3 1
Lazio 24 9 8 3 2 2
Abruzzo 7 4 2 1
Molise 2 2
Campania 29 11 8 4 1 2 1 2
Apulia 21 9 6 3 1 2
Basilicata 7 4 2 1
Calabria 12 5 4 2 1
Sicily 29 11 9 3 2 3 1
Sardinia 9 5 3 1
Total 315 135 101 46 16 11 2 2 2

Notes

  1. Taking into account the unelected Senators for life, who accounted for 7 seats at the time the election took place

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1048 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Agosti, Aldo (30 July 2008). Palmiro Togliatti: A Biography. London: I. B. Tauris. pp. 291–292. ISBN 978-1-84511-726-9. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
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