Italian general election, 1892

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Italian general election, 1892

Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg


  1890 6–13 November 1892 1895  

All 508 seats to the Chamber of Deputies of the Kingdom of Italy

 Majority partyMinority partyThird party
  Giovanni Giolitti.jpg Rudini.jpg Felice Cavallotti.jpg
Leader Giovanni Giolitti Antonio Starabba di Rudinì Felice Cavallotti
Party Historical Left Historical Right Historical Far Left
Seats won3239356
Seat changeDecrease2.svg78Increase2.svg45Increase2.svg14
Popular vote1,075,244309,873186,263
Percentage63.6%18.3%11.0%
SwingDecrease2.svg15.3%Increase2.svg8.9%Increase2.svg2.7%

Prime Minister before election

Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudinì
Historical Right

Contents

Elected Prime Minister

Giovanni Giolitti
Historical Left

General elections were held in Italy on 6 November 1892, with a second round of voting on 13 November. [1] The "ministerial" left-wing bloc emerged as the largest in Parliament, winning 323 of the 508 seats. [2] The electoral system reverted to the pre-1882 method of using single-member constituencies with second round run-offs. [3]

Italy republic in Southern Europe

Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe. Located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and the enclaved microstates San Marino and Vatican City. Italy covers an area of 301,340 km2 (116,350 sq mi) and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. With around 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth-most populous EU member state and the most populous country in Southern Europe.

Historical background

Giovanni Giolitti's first term as Prime Minister (1892–1893) was marked by misfortune and misgovernment. The building crisis and the commercial rupture with France had impaired the situation of the state banks, of which one, the Banca Romana , had been further undermined by misadministration. The Banca Romana had loaned large sums to property developers but was left with huge liabilities when the real estate bubble collapsed in 1887. [4] Then Prime Minister Francesco Crispi and his Treasury Minister Giolitti knew of the 1889 government inspection report, but feared that publicity might undermine public confidence and suppressed the report. [5]

Giovanni Giolitti Italian politician

Giovanni Giolitti was an Italian statesman. He was the Prime Minister of Italy five times between 1892 and 1921. He is the second-longest serving Prime Minister in Italian history, after Benito Mussolini. He was a prominent leader of the Historical Left and the Liberal Union. Giolitti is widely considered one of the most powerful and important politicians in Italian history and, due to his dominant position in Italian politics, he was accused by critics of being a parliamentary dictator.

Banca Romana scandal

The Banca Romana scandal surfaced in January 1893 in Italy over the bankruptcy of the Banca Romana, one of the six national banks authorised at the time to issue currency. The scandal was the first of many Italian corruption scandals, and discredited both ministers and parliamentarians, in particular those of the Historical Left. The crisis prompted a new banking law, tarnished the prestige of the Prime Ministers Francesco Crispi and Giovanni Giolitti and prompted the collapse of the latter's government in November 1893.

Francesco Crispi Italian patriot and statesman

Francesco Crispi was an Italian patriot and statesman. He was among the main protagonists of the Italian Risorgimento and a close friend and supporter of Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi, and one of the architects of the unification of Italy in 1860.

The Bank Act of August 1893 liquidated the Banca Romana and reformed the whole system of note issue, restricting the privilege to the new Banca d'Italia – mandated to liquidate the Banca Romana – and to the Banco di Napoli and the Banco di Sicilia , and providing for stricter state control. [5] [6] The new law failed to effect an improvement. Moreover, he irritated public opinion by raising to senatorial rank the governor of the Banca Romana, Bernardo Tanlongo, whose irregular practices had become a byword, which would have given him immunity from prosecution. [7] The senate declined to admit Tanlongo, whom Giolitti, in consequence of an intervention in parliament upon the condition of the Banca Romana, was obliged to arrest and prosecute. During the prosecution Giolitti abused his position as premier to abstract documents bearing on the case.

Banco di Napoli S.p.A., among the oldest banks in the world, was an Italian banking subsidiary of Intesa Sanpaolo group, as one of the 6 retail brands other than "Intesa Sanpaolo". It was acquired by the Italian banking group Sanpaolo IMI in 2002 and ceased being an independent bank. In February 2018, Intesa Sanpaolo announced their new business plan, which would retire Banco di Napoli and other brands; the legal person of Banco di Napoli would be absorbed into Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A.

Banco di Sicilia was an Italian bank based in Palermo, Sicily. It was a subsidiary of UniCredit but absorbed into the parent company in 2010.

Simultaneously a parliamentary commission of inquiry investigated the condition of the state banks. Its report, though acquitting Giolitti of personal dishonesty, proved disastrous to his political position, and the ensuing Banca Romana scandal obliged him to resign. [8] His fall left the finances of the state disorganized, the pensions fund depleted, diplomatic relations with France strained in consequence of the massacre of Italian workmen at Aigues-Mortes, and a state of revolt in the Lunigiana and by the Fasci Siciliani in Sicily, which he had proved impotent to suppress. Despite the heavy pressure from the King, the army and conservative circles in Rome, Giolitti neither treated strikes – which were not illegal – as a crime, nor dissolved the Fasci, nor authorised the use of firearms against popular demonstrations. [9] His policy was “to allow these economic struggles to resolve themselves through amelioration of the condition of the workers” and not to interfere in the process. [10]

Massacre of Italians at Aigues-Mortes

The Massacre of the Italians at Aigues-Mortes was a series of events on 16 and 17 August 1893, in Aigues-Mortes, France, which resulted in the deaths of immigrant Italian workers of the Compagnie des Salins du Midi, at the hands of French villagers and labourers. Estimates range from the official number of eight deaths up to 150, according to the Italian press of the time. Those killed were victims of lynchings, beatings with clubs, drowning and rifle shots, as well as many casualties.

Lunigiana historical territory of Italy, which today falls within the provinces of La Spezia and Massa Carrara.

The Lunigiana is a historical territory of Italy, which today falls within the provinces of La Spezia and Massa Carrara. Its borders derive from the ancient Roman settlement, later the medieval diocese of Luni, which no longer exists.

Fasci Siciliani

The Fasci Siciliani[ˈfaʃʃi sitʃiˈljani], short for Fasci Siciliani dei Lavoratori, were a popular movement of democratic and socialist inspiration, which arose in Sicily in the years between 1889 and 1894. The Fasci gained the support of the poorest and most exploited classes of the island by channeling their frustration and discontent into a coherent programme based on the establishment of new rights. Consisting of a jumble of traditionalist sentiment, religiosity, and socialist consciousness, the movement reached its apex in the summer of 1893, when new conditions were presented to the landowners and mine owners of Sicily concerning the renewal of sharecropping and rental contracts.

Parties and leaders

PartyIdeologyLeader
Historical Left Liberalism, Centrism Giovanni Giolitti
Historical Right Conservatism, Monarchism Antonio Starabba di Rudinì
Historical Far Left Republicanism, Radicalism Felice Cavallotti

Results

Summary of November 1892 Chamber of Deputies election results
Italian Parliament 1892.svg
PartyVotes%Seats+/−
Historical Left 1,075,244 [lower-alpha 1] 63.6323−78
Historical Right 309,873 [lower-alpha 1] 18.393+45
Historical Far Left 186,263 [lower-alpha 1] 11.056+14
Others120,224 [lower-alpha 1] 7.136+19
Invalid/blank votes37,901
Total1,693,298100508±0
Registered voters/turnout2,934,44555.9
Source: Nohlen & Stöver
  1. 1 2 3 4 Estimate
Parliamentary seats
Historical Left
63.6%
Historical Right
18.3%
Historical Far Left
11.0%
Others
7.1%

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1890 Italian general election

General elections were held in Italy on 23 November 1890, with a second round of voting on 30 November. The "ministerial" left-wing bloc emerged as the largest in Parliament, winning 401 of the 508 seats. As in 1886, the election was held using small multi-member constituencies with between two and five seats.

1895 Italian general election

General elections were held in Italy on 26 May 1895, with a second round of voting on 2 June. The "ministerial" left-wing bloc remained the largest in Parliament, winning 334 of the 508 seats.

1897 Italian general election

General elections were held in Italy on 21 March 1897, with a second round of voting on 28 March. The "Ministerial" left-wing bloc, led by Giovanni Giolitti remained the largest in Parliament, winning 327 of the 508 seats.

1900 Italian general election

General elections were held in Italy on 3 June 1900, with a second round of voting on 10 June. The "ministerial" left-wing bloc remained the largest in Parliament, winning 296 of the 508 seats.

See also: 1892 in Italy, other events of 1893, 1894 in Italy.


See also: 1891 in Italy, other events of 1892, 1893 in Italy.


See also: 1893 in Italy, other events of 1894, 1895 in Italy.


See also: 1894 in Italy, other events of 1895, 1896 in Italy.


Bernardino Grimaldi Italian politician

Bernardino Grimaldi was an Italian politician. He was a Minister in several governments.

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1047 ISBN   978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Nohlen & Stöver, p1082
  3. Nohlen & Stöver, p1030
  4. Alfredo Gigliobianco and Claire Giordano, Economic Theory and Banking Regulation: The Italian Case (1861-1930s) Archived 2012-03-27 at the Wayback Machine ., Quaderni di Storia Economica (Economic History Working Papers), Nr. 5, November 2010
  5. 1 2 Seton-Watson, Italy from liberalism to fascism, pp. 154-56
  6. Pohl & Freitag, Handbook on the history of European banks, p. 564
  7. Duggan, The Force of Destiny, p. 340
  8. Cabinet Forced To Resign; Italian Ministers Called "Thieves" by the People, The New York Times, November 25, 1893
  9. De Grand, The hunchback's tailor , pp. 47-48
  10. Seton-Watson, Italy from liberalism to fascism, pp. 162-63