1909 Italian general election

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1909 Italian general election
Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg
  1904 7 March 1909 (first round)
14 March 1909 (second round)
1913  

All 508 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
255 seats needed for a majority
 Majority partyMinority partyThird party
  Giovanni Giolitti.jpg Ettore Sacchi.jpeg Filippo Turati 3.jpg
Leader Giovanni Giolitti Ettore Sacchi Filippo Turati
Party Ministerials Radical Party PSI
Seats won3364841
Seat changeDecrease2.svg3Increase2.svg8Increase2.svg12
Popular vote995,290181,242347,615
Percentage54.45%9.92%19.02%
SwingIncrease2.svg3.55 pp Increase2.svg1.54 pp Decrease2.svg2.33 pp

Prime Minister before election

Giovanni Giolitti
Ministerials

Elected Prime Minister

Giovanni Giolitti
Ministerials

General elections were held in Italy on 7 March 1909, with a second round of voting on 14 March. [1] The "ministerial" left-wing bloc remained the largest in Parliament, winning 329 of the 508 seats. [2]

Contents

Background

The right-wing leader Sidney Sonnino succeed to Giolitti's protégé Alessandro Fortis as Prime Minister in 1906. But his cabinet had a short lift; any way Sonnino formed an alliance with France on the colonial expansion in North Africa. His government lasted only few months.

After Sonnino's resignation Giovanni Giolitti returned to power in 1906. Many critics accused Giolitti of manipulating the elections, piling up majorities with the restricted suffrage at the time, using the prefects just as his contenders. However, he did refine the practice in the elections of 1904 and 1909 that gave the liberals secure majorities.

In the election, The Right lost his important position in the Parliament, replaced by the Radical Party of Ettore Sacchi, who became an ally of Giolitti and the Italian Socialist Party of Filippo Turati, which continued its strong opposition to the Left governments.

Electoral system

The election was held using 508 single-member constituencies. However, prior to the election the electoral law was amended so that candidates needed only an absolute majority of votes to win their constituency, abolishing the second requirement of receiving the votes of at least one-sixth of registered voters. [3]

Parties and leaders

PartyIdeologyLeader
Ministerials Liberalism Giovanni Giolitti
Italian Socialist Party Socialism Filippo Turati
Italian Radical Party Radicalism Ettore Sacchi
Constitutional opposition Conservatism Sydney Sonnino
Italian Republican Party Republicanism Napoleone Colajanni
Italian Catholic Electoral Union Christian democracy Ottorino Gentiloni

Results

Italian Parliament, 1909.svg
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Ministerials 995,29054.45336−3
Italian Socialist Party 347,61519.0241+12
Italian Radical Party 181,2429.9245+8
Constitutional opposition 108,0295.9136−40
Italian Republican Party 81,4614.46240
Italian Catholic Electoral Union 73,0153.9916+13
Constitutional Independents 41,2132.2510New
Total1,827,865100.005080
Valid votes1,827,86596.74
Invalid/blank votes61,5003.26
Total votes1,889,365100.00
Registered voters/turnout2,930,47364.47
Source: National Institute of Statistics [4]

Leading party by region

RegionFirst partySecond partyThird party
Abruzzo-Molise Min. PSI PR
Apulia Min. PSI PR
Basilicata Min. PSI PR
Calabria Min. PR PSI
Campania Min. PR PSI
Emilia-Romagna PSI Min. PR
Lazio Min. PSI PR
Liguria Min. PSI PR
Lombardy Min. PSI PR
Marche Min. PSI PR
Piedmont Min. PSI PR
Sardinia Min. PSI PR
Sicily Min. PR PSI
Tuscany PSI Min. PR
Umbria PSI Min. PR
Veneto Min. PSI PR

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1047 ISBN   978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Nohlen & Stöver, p1083
  3. Nohlen & Stöver, p1039
  4. National Institute of Statistics