Italian general election, 1929

Italian general election, 1929
All 400 seats to the Chamber of Deputies of the Kingdom of Italy
Prime Minister before election; Benito Mussolini ; Fascist Party	Elected Prime Minister ; Benito Mussolini ; Fascist Party

Last updated April 10, 2019

General elections were held in Italy on 24 March 1929. Following a parliamentary reform enacted in 1928 by the Chamber of Deputies and Senate, the elections were held in the form of a referendum, with the Grand Council of the National Fascist Party, now an official state organ, allowed to compose a single party list to be either approved or rejected by the voters. The list put forward was ultimately approved by 98.43% of voters.^[1]

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.

The Grand Council of Fascism was the main body of Mussolini's Fascist government in Italy. A body which held and applied great power to control the institutions of government, it was created as a body of the National Fascist Party in 1923 and became a state body on 9 December 1928. The council usually met at the Palazzo Venezia, Rome, which was also the seat of head of the Italian government.

The National Fascist Party was an Italian political party, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of fascism. The party ruled Italy from 1922 when Fascists took power with the March on Rome to 1943, when Mussolini was deposed by the Grand Council of Fascism.

Electoral system

The universal male suffrage, which was legal since 1912, was restricted to men who were members of a trade union or an association, to soldiers and to members of the clergy. Consequently, only 9.5 million of people were able to vote.

A trade union, also called a labour union or labor union (US), is an association of workers in a particular trade, industry, or company created for the purpose of securing improvement in pay, benefits, working conditions or social and political status through collective bargaining and working conditions through the increased bargaining power wielded by creation of a monopoly of the workers. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with employers. The most common purpose of these associations or unions is "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment". This may include the negotiation of wages, work rules, complaint procedures, rules governing hiring, firing and promotion of workers, benefits, workplace safety and policies.

Clergy are some of the main and important formal leaders within certain religions. The roles and functions of clergy vary in different religious traditions but these usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the terms used for individual clergy are clergyman, clergywoman and churchman. Less common terms are churchwoman, clergyperson and cleric.

The election took place in a plebiscite form; voters could vote "Yes" or "No" to approve the list of deputies appointed by the Grand Council of Fascism. The voter was equipped with two equal-sized sheets, white outside, inside bearing the words "Do you approve the list of members appointed by the Grand National Council of Fascism?" The electoral paper with the "Yes" was also accompanied by the Italian tricolour and a fasces, the "No" one was only a white paper without any symbol.

The flag of Italy, often referred to in Italian as il Tricolore ; is a tricolour featuring three equally-sized vertical pales of green, white and red, with the green at the hoist side. Its current form has been in use since 18 June 1946 and was formally adopted on 1 January 1948.

Fasces is a bound bundle of wooden rods, sometimes including an axe with its blade emerging. The fasces had its origin in the Etruscan civilization and was passed on to ancient Rome, where it symbolized a magistrate's power and jurisdiction. The axe originally associated with the symbol, the Labrys the double-bitted axe, originally from Crete, is one of the oldest symbols of Greek civilization. To the Romans, it was known as a bipennis. Commonly, the symbol was associated with female deities, from prehistoric through historic times.

The voter must vote at the time of collecting both cards; inside the voting booth was a first ballot box where the voter left the discarded card and then deliver to the scrutineers chosen paper, so that they would ensure that it was "carefully sealed". This process did not assure that the vote was really secret.

Moreover, if the "No" would win, the election had to be repeated, with the ammission of other electoral lists.^[2]

Historical background

The previous election was shocked by the assassination of the socialist leader Giacomo Matteotti, who had requested that the elections must be annulled because of the irregularities,^[3] provoked a momentary crisis in the Mussolini government. Mussolini ordered a cover-up, but witnesses saw the car that transported Matteotti's body parked outside Matteotti's residence, which linked Amerigo Dumini to the murder.

Giacomo Matteotti was an Italian socialist politician. On 30 May 1924, he openly spoke in the Italian Parliament alleging the Fascists committed fraud in the recently held elections, and denounced the violence they used to gain votes. Eleven days later he was kidnapped and killed by Fascists.

Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost as if it had never taken place. In legal terminology, an annulment makes a void marriage or a voidable marriage null.

Mussolini later confessed that a few resolute men could have altered public opinion and started a coup that would have swept fascism away. Dumini was imprisoned for two years. On his release Dumini allegedly told other people that Mussolini was responsible, for which he served further prison time.

The opposition parties responded weakly or were generally unresponsive. Many of the socialists, liberals, and moderates boycotted Parliament in the Aventine Secession, hoping to force Victor Emmanuel to dismiss Mussolini.

The Aventine Secession was the withdrawal of the Italian Socialist Party from the Italian Chamber of Deputies in 1924–25, following the murder of Giacomo Matteotti. It was named after the Aventine Secession in ancient Rome, and heralded the assumption of total power by Benito Mussolini and his National Fascist Party and the establishment of a one-party dictatorship.

On 31 December 1924, MVSN consuls met with Mussolini and gave him an ultimatum—crush the opposition or they would do so without him. Fearing a revolt by his own militants, Mussolini decided to drop all trappings of democracy.^[4] On 3 January 1925, Mussolini made a truculent speech before the Chamber in which he took responsibility for squadristi violence (though he did not mention the assassination of Matteotti).^[5]

Between 1925 and 1927, Mussolini progressively dismantled virtually all constitutional and conventional restraints on his power, thereby building a police state. A law passed on Christmas Eve 1925 changed Mussolini's formal title from "president of the Council of Ministers" to "head of the government" (though he was still called "Prime Minister" by most non-Italian outlets). He was no longer responsible to Parliament and could only be removed by the king. While the Italian constitution stated that ministers were only responsible to the sovereign, in practice it had become all but impossible to govern against the express will of Parliament. The Christmas Eve law ended this practice, and also made Mussolini the only person competent to determine the body's agenda. This law transformed Mussolini's government into a de facto legal dictatorship. Local autonomy was abolished, and podestàs appointed by the Italian Senate replaced elected mayors and councils.

Results

← Summary of the 24 March 1929 Chamber of Deputies election results →
Choice		Votes	%	Seats	+/−

	National Fascist Party	8,517,838	98.43	400	+26
	Against	135,773	1.57	0	−161
Invalid/blank votes		8,209	–	–	–
Total		8,661,820	100	400	−135
Registered voters/turnout		9,638,859	89.86	–	–
Source: Direct Democracy

Popular vote

Fascist Party			98.43%
Against			1.57%

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References

↑ Italy, 24 May 1929: Fascist single list Direct Democracy (in German)
↑ Testo Unico 2 settembre 1928, n. 1993, art. 57 and 88
↑ Speech of 30 May 1924 the last speech of Matteotti, from it.wikisource
↑ Paxton, Robert (2004). The Anatomy of Fascism. New York City: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 1-4000-4094-9.
↑ Mussolini, Benito. "discorso sul delitto Matteotti". wikisource.it. Retrieved 24 June 2013.

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[1] Italy, 24 May 1929: Fascist single list Direct Democracy (in German)

[2] Testo Unico 2 settembre 1928, n. 1993, art. 57 and 88

[3] Speech of 30 May 1924 the last speech of Matteotti, from it.wikisource

[Paxton-4] Paxton, Robert (2004). The Anatomy of Fascism. New York City: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 1-4000-4094-9.

[5] Mussolini, Benito. "discorso sul delitto Matteotti". wikisource.it. Retrieved 24 June 2013.

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