Italian general election, 1968

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Italian general election, 1968
Flag of Italy.svg
  1963 19 May 1968 1972  

All 630 seats in the Italian Chamber of Deputies
315 (of the 322) seats in the Italian Senate
Turnout 92.8%

 Majority partyMinority partyThird party
  Mariano Rumor daticamera.jpg Luigi Longo 1979.jpg Francesco De Martino.jpg
Leader Mariano Rumor Luigi Longo Francesco De Martino
Party Christian Democracy Communist Party Unified Socialist Party
Leader since196419641963
Leader's seat IX - West Veneto IV - Milan XI - Romagna
Seats won266 C / 135 S177 C / 101 S91 C / 46 S [1]
Seat changeIncrease2.svg6 C / Increase2.svg6 SIncrease2.svg11 C / Increase2.svg17 SDecrease2.svg29 C / Decrease2.svg12 S
Popular vote12,441,553 C
10,972,114 S
8,557,404 C
8,585,601 S
4,605,832 C
4,354,906 S
Percentage39.1% (C)
38.3% (S)
26.9% (C)
30.0% (S)
14.5% (C)
15.2% (S)
SwingIncrease2.svg0.8% C
Increase2.svg1.8% S
Increase2.svg1.6% C
Increase2.svg6.5% S
Decrease2.svg5.5% C
Decrease2.svg5.1% S [2]

Italian Election 1968 Province.png 1968 Italian Senate election map.png
Election results maps for the Chamber of Deputies (on the left) and for the Senate (on the right). Light Blue denotes provinces with a Christian Democratic plurality, Red denotes those with a Communist plurality, Gray denotes those with an Autonomist plurality.

Prime Minister before election

Aldo Moro
Christian Democracy

Elected Prime Minister

Giovanni Leone
Christian Democracy

General elections were held in Italy on 19 May 1968 to select the Fifth Republican Parliament. [3] Democrazia Cristiana (DC) remained stable around 38% of the votes. They were marked by a victory of the Communist Party (PCI) passing from 25% of 1963 to c. 30% at the Senate, where it presented jointly with the new Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity (PSIUP), which included members of Socialist Party (PSI) which disagreed the latter's alliance with DC. PSIUP gained c. 4.5% at the Chamber. The Socialist Party and the Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI) presented together as the Unified PSI–PSDI, but gained c. 15%, far less than the sum of what the two parties had obtained separatedly in 1963.

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.

Christian Democracy (Italy) Italian political party, founded in 1943 and dissolved in 1994

Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic political party in Italy.

Italian Communist Party communist political party in Italy (1943–1991)

The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.

Contents

Electoral system

The pure party-list proportional representation had traditionally become the electoral system for the Chamber of Deputies. Italian provinces were united in 32 constituencies, each electing a group of candidates. At constituency level, seats were divided between open lists using the largest remainder method with Imperiali quota. Remaining votes and seats were transferred at national level, where they was divided using the Hare quota, and automatically distributed to best losers into the local lists.

Party-list proportional representation family of voting systems

Party-list proportional representation systems are a family of voting systems emphasizing proportional representation (PR) in elections in which multiple candidates are elected through allocations to an electoral list. They can also be used as part of mixed additional member systems.

Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a party's candidates are elected. This as opposed to closed list, which allows only active members, party officials, or consultants to determine the order of its candidates and gives the general voter no influence at all on the position of the candidates placed on the party list. Additionally, an open list system allows voters to select individuals rather than parties. Different systems give voter different amounts of influence. Voter's choice is usually called preference vote.

The largest remainder method is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems. It contrasts with various divisor methods.

For the Senate, 237 single-seat constituencies were established, even if the assembly had risen to 315 members. The candidates needed a landslide victory of two thirds of votes to be elected, a goal which could be reached only by the German minorities in South Tirol. All remained votes and seats were grouped in party lists and regional constituencies, where a D'Hondt method was used: inside the lists, candidates with the best percentages were elected.

The D'Hondt method or the Jefferson method is a highest averages method for allocating seats, and is thus a type of party-list proportional representation. The method described is named in the United States after Thomas Jefferson, who introduced the method for proportional allocation of seats in the United States House of Representatives in 1791, and in Europe after Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt, who described it in 1878 for proportional allocation of parliamentary seats to the parties. There are two forms: closed list and an open list.

Historical background

On 21 August 1964, the historic leader of the Italian Communist Party, Palmiro Togliatti died of cerebral haemorrhage [4] while vacationing with his companion Nilde Iotti in Yalta, then in the Soviet Union. According to some of his collaborators, Togliatti was travelling to the Soviet Union in order to give his support to Leonid Brezhnev's election as Nikita Khrushchev's successor at the head of Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Togliatti was replaced by Luigi Longo, a long-time prominent PCI members; Longo continued Togliatti's line, known as the "Italian road to Socialism", playing down the alliance between the Italian Communist Party and the USSR. He reacted without hostility to the new left movements that sprung up in 1968 and, among the leaders of the PCI, was one of those most disposed to engage with the new activists, although he did not condone their excesses.

Palmiro Togliatti Italian politician

Palmiro Togliatti was an Italian politician and leader of the Italian Communist Party from 1927 until his death. He was nicknamed by his supporters Il Migliore. In 1930 he became a citizen of the Soviet Union and later he had a city in the country named after him: Tolyatti.

Nilde Iotti Italian politician

Leonilde Iotti, commonly known as Nilde Iotti was an Italian politician of the Communist Party, the first woman to become president of the Italian Chamber of Deputies for three consecutive legislatures from 1979 to 1992.

Yalta City in Crimea, Disputed:

Yalta is a resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Population: 76,746 .

Moreover, Francesco De Martino, became the new Secretary of the Italian Socialist Party, after the resignation of Pietro Nenni, due to age.

Francesco De Martino Italian politician

Francesco de Martino was an Italian jurist, politician, lifetime senator (1991-2002) and former Vice President of the Council of Ministers. He was considered by many to be the conscience of the Italian Socialist Party.

Italian Socialist Party former Italian political party (1892–1994)

The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy. Founded in Genoa in 1892, the PSI dominated the Italian left until after World War II, when it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party. The Socialists came to special prominence in the 1980s, when their leader Bettino Craxi, who had severed the residual ties with the Soviet Union and re-branded the party as liberal-socialist, served as Prime Minister (1983–1987). The PSI was disbanded in 1994 as a result of the Tangentopoli scandals. Prior to World War I, future dictator Benito Mussolini was a member of the PSI.

Pietro Nenni Italian politician

Pietro Sandro Nenni was an Italian socialist politician, the national secretary of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) and lifetime Senator since 1970. He was a recipient of the Stalin Peace Prize in 1951. He was a central figure of the Italian left from the 1920s to the 1960s.

In 1965, the SIFAR intelligence agency was transformed into the SID following an aborted coup d'état, Piano Solo , which was to give power to the Carabinieri , then headed by general De Lorenzo.

Piano Solo was an envisaged plot for an Italian coup in 1964 requested by then President of the Italian Republic, Antonio Segni. It was prepared by the commander of the Carabinieri Giovanni de Lorenzo in the beginning of 1964 in close collaboration with the Italian secret service SIFAR, CIA secret warfare expert Vernon Walters, then chief of the CIA station in Rome William King Harvey, and Renzo Rocca, director of the Gladio units within the military secret service SID.

The Carabinieri are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic policing duties. It is one of Italy's main law enforcement agencies, alongside the Polizia di Stato and the Guardia di Finanza. As with the Guardia di Finanza but in contrast to the Polizia di Stato, the Carabinieri are a military force. As the fourth branch of the Italian Armed Forces, they come under the authority of the Ministry of Defence. In practice, there is a significant overlap between the jurisdiction of the Polizia di Stato and Carabinieri, who are contacted on separate emergency telephone numbers. Unlike the Polizia di Stato, the Carabinieri have responsibility for policing the military, and a number of members regularly participate in military missions abroad.

The difficult equilibrium of Italian society was challenged by a rising left-wing movement, in the wake of 1968 student unrest ("Sessantotto"). This movement was characterized by such heterogeneous events as revolts by jobless farm workers (Avola, Battipaglia 1969), occupations of Universities by students, social unrest in the large Northern factories (1969 autunno caldo, hot autumn). While conservative forces tried to roll back some of the social advances of the 1960s, and part of the military indulged in "sabre rattling" in order to intimidate progressive political forces, numerous left-wing activists became increasingly frustrated at social inequalities, while the myth of guerrilla (Che Guevara, the Uruguayan Tupamaros) and of the Chinese Maoist "cultural revolution" increasingly inspired extreme left-wing violent movements.

Social protests, in which the student movement was particularly active, shook Italy during the 1969 autunno caldo (Hot Autumn), leading to the occupation of the Fiat factory in Turin. In March 1968, clashes occurred at La Sapienza university in Rome, during the "Battle of Valle Giulia." Mario Capanna, associated with the New Left, was one of the figures of the student movement, along with the members of Potere Operaio and Autonomia Operaia such as (Antonio Negri, Oreste Scalzone, Franco Piperno and of Lotta Continua such as Adriano Sofri.

Parties and leaders

PartyIdeologyLeader
Christian Democracy (DC) Christian democracy Mariano Rumor
Italian Communist Party (PCI) Communism Luigi Longo
Unified Socialist Party (PSU) Social democracy Francesco De Martino
Italian Liberal Party (PLI) Conservative liberalism Giovanni Malagodi
Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity (PSIUP) Socialism Lelio Basso
Italian Social Movement (MSI) Neo-fascism Arturo Michelini
Italian Republican Party (PRI) Social liberalism Ugo La Malfa
Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity (PDIUM) Conservatism Alfredo Covelli

Results

The election was a test for the new organization of the socialist area, which was divided between the new revolutionary and Communist-allied Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity and the governmental social-democratic federation between PSI and PSDI. The polls said that the split of the PSIUP in 1964 had not been a purely parliamentary operation, but the reflex of divisions into the leftist electorate. The result shocked the PSI's leadership, causing the sudden sinking of the social-democratic federation, and an alternance of provisional retirements by the government, firstly led by lifetime senator Giovanni Leone and then, through two political crisis, by DC's secretary Mariano Rumor. Unsuccessfully trying to recover its lost leftist electors, the PSI returned to the alliance with the PCI for the regional elections of 1970, so causing another crisis and a new change of premiership, then led by Emilio Colombo, but the government coalition had continuous problems of instability. Influent Giulio Andreotti tried to resurrect the centrist formula in 1972, but he failed, opening the way to the first early election of the republican history.

Chamber of Deputies

Summary of the 19 May 1968 Chamber of Deputies election results
Italian Chamber of Deputies 1968.svg
PartyVotes%Seats+/−
Christian Democracy 12,437,84839.12266+6
Italian Communist Party 8,551,34726.90177+11
Unified PSI–PSDI 4,603,19214.4891−29
Italian Liberal Party 1,850,6505.8231−8
Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity 1,414,6974.4523New
Italian Social Movement 1,414,0364.4524−3
Italian Republican Party 626,5331.979+3
Italian Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity 414,5071.306−2
South Tyrolean People's Party 152,9910.483±0
Social Democracy100,2120.320±0
Democratic Union for the New Republic 63,4020.200±0
Autonomous Party of Pensioners of Italy41,4160.130±0
Valdostan Union 31,5570.100−1
Others87,6740.280±0
Invalid/blank votes1,211,216
Total33,001,644100630±0
Registered voters/turnout35,566,49392.79
Source: Ministry of the Interior
Popular vote
DC
39.12%
PCI
26.90%
PSU
14.48%
PLI
5.82%
PSIUP
4.45%
MSI
4.45%
PRI
1.97%
PDIUM
1.30%
Others
1.50%
Seats
DC
42.22%
PCI
28.10%
PSU
14.44%
PLI
4.92%
MSI
3.81%
PSIUP
3.65%
PRI
1.43%
PDIUM
0.95%
Others
0.48%

Senate of the Republic

Summary of the 19 May 1968 Senate of the Republic election results
Italian Senate 1968.svg
PartyVotes%Seats+/−
Christian Democracy 10,972,11438.34135+6
PCIPSIUP 8,585,60130.00101+17
Unified PSI–PSDI 4,354,90615.2246−12
Italian Liberal Party 1,943,7956.7916−2
Italian Social Movement 1,304,8474.5611−3
Italian Republican Party 622,3882.172+2
Italian Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity 312,7021.092±0
MSIPDIUM 292,3491.020−1
South Tyrolean People's Party 131,0710.462±0
Social Democracy36,0730.130New
Valdostan Union 28,4140.100±0
Others31,7610.110±0
Invalid/blank votes2,740,176
Total30,252,921100315±0
Registered voters/turnout32,517,63893.04
Source: Ministry of the Interior
Popular vote
DC
38.34%
PCIPSIUP
30.00%
PSU
15.22%
PLI
6.79%
MSI
4.56%
PRI
2.17%
PDIUM
1.09%
Others
1.83%
Seats
DC
42.86%
PCIPSIUP
32.06%
PSU
14.60%
PLI
5.08%
MSI
3.49%
PRI
0.63%
PDIUM
0.63%
Others
0.63%

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References

  1. In the coalition Unified PSI–PSDI, with the Italian Democratic Socialist Party.
  2. Considering the votes of the Italian Socialist Party and of the Italian Democratic Socialist Party.
  3. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1048 ISBN   978-3-8329-5609-7
  4. Agosti, Aldo. Palmiro Togliatti: A Biography. London: I. B. Tauris. pp. 291–292. ISBN   1-84511-726-3 . Retrieved 6 July 2015.