1946 Italian general election

General elections were held in Italy on Sunday 2 and also on Monday 3 June (but until noon) 1946.^[1] They were the first after World War II and elected 556 deputies to the Constituent Assembly. Theoretically, a total of 573 deputies were to be elected, but the election did not take place in the Julian March and in South Tyrol, which were under military occupation by the United Nations.

1946 Italian general election

← 1934 2–3 June 1946 1948 →
556 of the 573 seats in the Constituent Assembly[a] 279 seats needed for a majority
Registered	28,005,449
Turnout	89.08%
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Alcide De Gasperi Pietro Nenni Palmiro Togliatti Party DC PSI PCI Leader's seat Trento Whole Italy Whole Italy Seats won 207 115 104 Popular vote 8,101,004 4,758,129 4,356,686 Percentage 35.21% 20.68% 18.93%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Luigi Einaudi Guglielmo Giannini Randolfo Pacciardi Party National Democratic Union Common Man's Front PRI Leader's seat Whole Italy Rome Pisa Seats won 41 30 23 Popular vote 1,560,638 1,211,956 1,003,007 Percentage 6.78% 5.27% 4.36%
On the left, results of the election by province. On the right, the seat distribution by constituency.
Prime Minister before election Alcide De Gasperi DC Prime Minister after the election Alcide De Gasperi DC

For the first time, Italian women were allowed to vote in a national election and run for a seat in the Constituent Assembly.

This election was held concurrently with the 1946 Italian institutional referendum on the abolition of the monarchy.

Electoral system

To emphasise 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.^[2] 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.

Campaign

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 Umberto II of Italy. As no democratic elections had taken place for more than 20 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 new Constituent Assembly.

The three main contestants were Christian Democracy and the Italian Socialist Party, which had both received popular support before the fascist era, and the Italian 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 the National Bloc of Freedom, while the liberal socialist Action Party and Labour Democratic Party hoped to maximize the positive image of the governments that they ruled in the National Liberation Committee.

Parties and leaders

Party		Ideology	Leader
	Christian Democracy (DC)	Christian democracy, Popularism	Alcide De Gasperi
	Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity (PSIUP)	Socialism, Democratic socialism	Pietro Nenni
	Italian Communist Party (PCI)	Communism, Marxism-Leninism	Palmiro Togliatti
	National Democratic Union (UDN)	Liberalism	Luigi Einaudi
	Common Man's Front (UQ)	Populism, Conservatism	Guglielmo Giannini
	Italian Republican Party (PRI)	Republicanism, Classical radicalism	Randolfo Pacciardi
	National Bloc of Freedom (BNL)	Conservatism, Monarchism	Alfredo Covelli
	Action Party (PdA)	Republicanism, Liberal socialism	Ugo La Malfa

Results

The election gave a large majority to the government formed by the three leaders of the CLN, which was briefly joined by the Republican Party after the exile of Umberto II. The alliance lasted for a year.

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
	Common Man's Front	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
	Movement for the Independence of Sicily	171,201	0.74	4
	Peasants' Party of Italy	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
	National Reconstruction Movement	39,748	0.17	0
	Independent Democratic Union of Labour	36,398	0.16	0
	Italian Republican Alliance	34,363	0.15	0
	Italian Monarchical Alliance	30,505	0.13	0
	Italian Monarchical Democratic Movement	30,017	0.13	0
	Party of the Italian Veteran	24,764	0.11	0
	Internationalist Communist Party	22,644	0.10	0
	Republican Progressive Democratic Front[b]	21,853	0.09	1
	National Concentration of Combatants and Veterans	21,570	0.09	0
	Union of Combatants, Partisans, Veterans and Prisoner Families	14,383	0.06	0
	National Union Party	12,746	0.06	0
	Fighters and Independents Group	12,165	0.05	0
	Patriotic Monarchist Renewing Party	11,098	0.05	0
	Sardinian League	10,499	0.05	0
	Sicilian Independent Labour Party	10,246	0.04	0
	National War Victims Union	10,236	0.04	0
	Veterans Partisans	8,690	0.04	0
	Independent Workers Movement	8,596	0.04	0
	Italian Pacifist League	6,333	0.03	0
	Independent Sicilians of the Left	5,706	0.02	0
	Union for the Renaissance of the South	5,373	0.02	0
	Italian Political Centre	5,063	0.02	0
	Italian Centre	4,516	0.02	0
	UDLLIDIM	4,207	0.02	0
	Italian Liberal Party	4,052	0.02	0
	Italian Labour Party	3,891	0.02	0
	Socialist Republican Party	3,611	0.02	0
	National Deployment	2,781	0.01	0
	Socialist Reformist Party	2,234	0.01	0
	Political Group of Italians from Sicily, Africa and the Mediterranean	1,995	0.01	0
	Garibaldian Antifascist Partisan Movement of Italy	1,922	0.01	0
	Independent Internationalist Communist Union	1,776	0.01	0
	Young Italy	985	0.00	0
	Italian Progressive Party	780	0.00	0
	Autonomous Republican Party	683	0.00	0
	General Confederation of Italian Feminists for Work	662	0.00	0
	Independents	17,312	0.08	0
Total		23,010,479	100.00	556
Valid votes		23,010,479	92.24
Invalid/blank votes		1,936,708	7.76
Total votes		24,947,187	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		28,005,449	89.08
Source: Ministry of Interior

Popular vote DC   35.21% PSIUP   20.68% PCI   18.93% UDN   6.78% UQ   5.27% PRI   4.36% BNL   2.77% PdA   1.45% Others   4.53%

Parliamentary seats DC   37.23% PSIUP   20.68% PCI   18.71% UDN   7.37% UQ   5.40% PRI   4.14% BNL   2.88% PdA   1.26% Others   2.34%

By constituency

Constituency	Total seats	Seats won
		DC	PSIUP	PCI	UDN	UQ	PRI	BNL	PdA	Others
Turin	25	9	9	6	1
Cuneo	16	7	4	3	1					1
Genoa	16	6	5	5
Milan	34	12	12	9		1
Como	12	6	5	1
Brescia	15	9	4	2
Mantua	8	3	3	2
Trentino	4	3	1
Verona	27	15	8	4
Venice	13	7	4	2
Udine	11	6	4	1
Bologna	22	4	7	9			2
Parma	19	6	6	7
Florence	12	4	3	5
Pisa	13	5	3	4			1
Siena	8	2	2	4
Ancona	13	5	3	3			2
Perugia	9	3	2	3			1
Rome	29	11	3	4	2	2	5	2
L'Aquila	12	7	2	1	1		1
Benevento	7	4			2	1
Naples	27	11	2	2	6	4		2
Avellino	12	4	1	1	3	1		1		1
Bari	18	7	2	4	1	4
Lecce	12	5	1	1	2			3
Potenza	5	2	1	1	1
Catanzaro	21	8	2	3	3	2	1	2
Catania	23	10	3	1	4	2		1		2
Palermo	21	8	3	2	3	2	1			2
Cagliari	11	6	1	1		1				2
Aosta Valley	1									1
National	80	12	9	13	11	10	9	5	7	4
Total	556	207	115	104	41	30	23	16	7	13

Referendum

Main article: 1946 Italian institutional referendum

Together with the election, a constitutional referendum took place. Italian electors chose whether to continue the reign of Umberto II of Italy or 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 to Lazio and Abruzzo voted to maintain the monarchy.

Choice		Votes	%
Republic		12,717,923	54.26
Against		10,719,284	45.74
Total		23,437,207	100.00
Valid votes		23,437,207	93.99
Invalid/blank votes		1,498,136	6.01
Total votes		24,935,343	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		28,005,449	89.04
Source: Official Gazzette

Notes

1. A total of 573 seats were allocated, but polls were not held in the Julian March or South Tyrol, these areas being under Allied occupation at the time
2. Alliance between PSIUP, PCI, PRI and Action Party in Aosta Valley. The election happened in a single-member constituency with the first-past-the-post method, with candidate Giulio Bordon winning 51.79% of valid votes.

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1047 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. The number of seats for each constituency ranged from 1 for Aosta Valley to 36 for Milan.