1976 Italian Senate election in Lombardy

Lombardy elected its seventh delegation to the Italian Senate on June 20, 1976. This election was a part of national Italian general election of 1976 even if, according to the Italian Constitution, every senatorial challenge in each Region is a single and independent race.

1976 Italian Senate election in Lombardy

June 20, 1976

All 48 Lombard seats to the Italian Senate
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Leader Benigno Zaccagnini Enrico Berlinguer Francesco De Martino
Party DC PCI PSI
Last election 41.7%, 20 seats 24.5%, 12 seats 13.0%, 6 seats
Seats won 21 16 6
Seat change Increase1 Increase4 =
Popular vote 2,170,893 1,598,097 613,253
Percentage 41.8% 30.7% 11.8%
Swing Increase0.1% Increase6.2% Decrease1.2%

Old local plurality before election

DC

New local plurality

DC

Lombardy obtained three more seats to the Senate, following the redistricting subsequent to the 1971 Census.

The election was won by the centrist Christian Democracy, as it happened at national level. Seven Lombard provinces gave a majority or at least a plurality to the winning party, while the agricultural Province of Pavia and Province of Mantua preferred the Italian Communist Party.

Background

The Italian Communist Party, which had annexed the Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity, strengthened under Enrico Berlinguer's leadership, reducing the gap with the Christian Democracy, which by its part obtained some votes from minor forces, as the Italian Liberal Party and the Italian Democratic Socialist Party, to face the red rising.

Electoral system

The electoral system for the Senate was a strange hybrid which established a form of proportional representation into FPTP-like constituencies. A candidate needed a landslide victory of more than 65% of votes to obtain a direct mandate. All constituencies where this result was not reached entered into an at-large calculation based upon the D'Hondt method to distribute the seats between the parties, and candidates with the best percentages of suffrages inside their party list were elected.

Results

Party votes votes (%) seats swing
Christian Democracy 2,170,893 41.8 21 Increase1
Italian Communist Party 1,598,097 30.7 16 Increase4
Italian Socialist Party 613,253 11.8 6 =
Italian Social Movement 210,741 4.1 2 =
Italian Republican Party 185,899 3.6 1 =
Italian Democratic Socialist Party 183,383 3.5 1 Decrease1
Italian Liberal Party 109,028 2.1 1 Decrease1
Others 136,997 2.4 - =
Total parties 5,198,291 100.0 48 Increase3

Sources: Italian Ministry of the Interior

Constituencies

Constituency Elected Party Votes % Others
1 Bergamo Angelo Castelli Christian Democracy 59.1%
2 Clusone Leandro Rampa Christian Democracy 63.8%
3 Treviglio Vincenzo Bombardieri Christian Democracy 57.3%
4 Brescia Mino Martinazzoli Christian Democracy 45.6%
5 Breno Giacomo Mazzoli Christian Democracy 55.3%
6 Chiari Mario Pedini Christian Democracy 57.3%
7 Salò Fabiano De Zan
Egidio Ariosto
Christian Democracy
Italian Democratic Socialist Party
48.3%
5.8%
8 Como Luigi Borghi Christian Democracy 44.8%
9 Lecco Tommaso Morlino Christian Democracy 52.3%
10 Cantù Siro Lombardini Christian Democracy 49.6%
11 Cremona Vincenzo Vernaschi
Giuseppe Garoli
Christian Democracy
Italian Communist Party
39.6%
36.5%
12 Crema Ferdinando Truzzi
Giacomo Carnesella
Christian Democracy
Italian Socialist Party
49.0%
13.1%
Paolo Zanini (PCI) 28.4%
13 Mantua Carlo Grazioli
Tullia Romagnoli
Christian Democracy
Italian Communist Party (Gsi)
37.0%
35.8%
14 Ostiglia Agostino Zavattini
Renato Colombo
Italian Communist Party
Italian Socialist Party
42.6%
14.8%
15 Milan 1 Luigi Noè
Enzo Bettiza
Christian Democracy
Italian Liberal Party
37.1%
9.3%
16 Milan 2 Gastone Nencioni Italian Social Movement 9.0%
17 Milan 3 Vera Squarcialupi
Giorgio Pisanò
Italian Communist Party
Italian Social Movement
28.9%
7.4%
18 Milan 4 Urbano Aletti
Giovanni Spadolini
Christian Democracy
Italian Republican Party
36.5%
9.3%
19 Milan 5 Mario Venanzi Italian Communist Party 34.5%
20 Milan 6 Lelio Basso
Carlo Polli
Italian Communist Party (Gsi)
Italian Socialist Party
36.9%
13.8%
21 Abbiategrasso Ada Valeria Ruhl
Agostino Viviani
Italian Communist Party
Italian Socialist Party
38.0%
13.0%
22 Rho Giorgio Milani
Bruno Luzzati
Italian Communist Party
Italian Socialist Party
39.6%
13.1%
23 Monza Vittorino Colombo
Generoso Petrella
Christian Democracy
Italian Communist Party
41.0%
32.7%
24 Vimercate Giovanni Marcora
Angelo Romanò
Christian Democracy
Italian Communist Party (Gsi)
43.6%
33.6%
25 Lodi Camillo Ripamonti
Rodolfo Bollini
Christian Democracy
Italian Communist Party
39.6%
39.3%
26 Pavia Renato Cebrelli Italian Communist Party 39.5%
27 Voghera Giovanni Bellinzona Italian Communist Party 36.1%
28 Vigevano Armando Cossutta Italian Communist Party 45.3%
29 Sondrio Eugenio Tarabini
Edoardo Catellani
Christian Democracy
Italian Socialist Party
52.1%
15.5%
30 Varese Aristide Marchetti
Claudio Donelli
Christian Democracy
Italian Communist Party
40.8%
29.9%
31 Busto Arsizio Gian Pietro Rossi
Modesto Merzario
Christian Democracy
Italian Communist Party
44.1%
29.6%
  • No senator obtained a direct mandate. Please remember that the electoral system was, in the other cases, a form of proportional representation and not a FPTP race: so candidates winning with a simple plurality could have (and usually had) a candidate (usually a Christian democrat) with more votes in their constituency.

Substitutions

Notes

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