1974 Italian divorce referendum

Last updated
Referendum on the Abrogation of the Divorce Law
12 May 1974

Do you want the Law of 1 December 1970, No. 898, on the regulation of cases of dissolution of marriage, to be abrogated?
OutcomeDivorce law remains in force
Results
Choice
Votes %
Check-71-128-204-brightblue.svg Yes13,157,55840.74%
Light brown x.svg No19,138,30059.26%
Valid votes32,295,85897.80%
Invalid or blank votes727,3212.20%
Total votes33,023,179100.00%
Registered voters/turnout37,646,32287.72%

1974 Italian divorce referendum.svg
Blue indicates provinces with a majority Yes vote, while Red indicates provinces with a majority No vote.

An abrogative referendum on the divorce law was held in Italy on 12 May 1974. [1] Voters were asked whether they wanted to repeal a government law passed three years earlier allowing divorce for the first time in modern Italian history (Law of 1 December 1970, no. 898). Those voting "yes" wanted to outlaw divorce as had been the case before the law came into effect, and those voting "no" wanted to retain the law and their newly gained right to divorce. The referendum was defeated by a margin of 59.26% to 40.74% on a voter turnout of 87.72% out of 37 million eligible voters, thus allowing the divorce law to remain in force.

Contents

This vote was the first of its kind in the country, being the first regular legislative referendum held by the Italian Republic 27 years after the Italian constitution, which allowed such referendums, was approved. It was considered a major victory for the civil rights and anti-clericalism movements, and for the Italian Radical Party.

Initial petitions

In January 1971 Agostino Sanfratello from Piacenza and Franco Maestrelli from Milan were the first to request a referendum against the divorce law at the Court of Cassation on behalf of the movement Catholic Alliance. [2] Signatures and petitions for the 1974 referendum were collected by Christian groups led by Gabrio Lombardo with very strong support from the Catholic church.

Political party positions

The Christian Democrats and the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement intensely campaigned for a yes vote to abolish the law and make divorce illegal again. Their main themes were the safeguarding of the traditional nuclear family model and the Roman Catechism.

Most left-wing political forces, the main ones being the Italian Socialist Party and the Italian Communist Party, supported the no faction.

Intense campaigning for a no vote also came from Marco Pannella of the Italian Radical Party which had been petitioning for a right to divorce in Italy since the early 1960s.

ChoicePartiesPolitical orientationLeader
Yes check.svg Yes Christian Democracy (DC) Christian democracy Amintore Fanfani
Italian Social Movement (MSI) Neo-fascism Giorgio Almirante
X mark.svg No Italian Communist Party (PCI) Communism Enrico Berlinguer
Italian Socialist Party (PSI) Socialism Francesco De Martino
Radical Party (PR) Libertarianism Marco Pannella
Italian Republican Party (PRI) Social liberalism Ugo La Malfa
Italian Liberal Party (PLI) Liberalism Agostino Bignardi
Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI) Social democracy Flavio Orlandi

Confusion about voting

The wording of the referendum statement caused significant confusion, with some people not understanding that they had to vote "No" in order to retain the right to divorce or vote "Yes" in order to outlaw divorce. It was argued that the wording made the statement insufficiently clear, and some campaigners from the no camp stated that without this confusion the no vote might have been even higher than the 59% obtained. (See double negative.)

Censorship

The Eurovision Song Contest 1974 held in April of that year was not broadcast on the Italian state television channel RAI because of Italy's entry, a song by Gigliola Cinquetti. Despite the contest taking place more than a month before the planned vote, and despite Cinquetti eventually coming in second place, Italian censors refused the contest and song to be shown or heard. RAI censors felt the song, titled "" (Italian for "yes") and containing lyrics constantly repeating the word "Sì", could be accused of being a subliminal message and a form of propaganda to influence the Italian voting public to vote yes in the referendum. The song remained censored on most Italian state television and radio stations for over a month.

Results

ChoiceVotes%
Yes13,157,55840.74
X mark.svg No19,138,30059.26
Invalid/blank votes727,321
Total33,023,179100
Registered voters/turnout37,646,32287.72
Source: Ministry of the Interior
Referendum results (excluding invalid votes)
Yes
13,157,558 (40.7%)
No
19,138,300 (59.3%)

50%

By region

RegionProvincesYesNoVotersTurnout
Votes%Votes%
Abruzzo Chieti   L'Aquila   Pescara   Teramo 332,89948.87348,22951.13698,59182.16
Aosta Valley 16,75324.9450,41275.0669,73186.81
Apulia Bari   Brindisi   Foggia   Lecce   Taranto 996,01752.60897,63047.401,930,16584.66
Basilicata Matera   Potenza 159,33953.58138,02446.42306,46178.87
Calabria Catanzaro   Cosenza   Reggio Calabria 460,11850.85444,73249.15929,80974.14
Campania Avellino   Benevento   Caserta   Naples   Salerno 1,300,38252.231,189,37447.772,536,83979.27
Emilia-Romagna Bologna   Ferrara   Forlì   Modena   Parma   Piacenza   Ravenna   Reggio Emilia 771,68929.031,886,37670.972,718,07795.28
Friuli-Venezia Giulia Gorizia   Pordenone   Trieste   Udine 292,76236.16516,79863.84827,95189.94
Lazio Frosinone   Latina   Rieti   Rome   Viterbo 1,042,31336.621,804,00963.382,892,50589.58
Liguria Genoa   Imperia   La Spezia   Savona 335,07527.43886,34372.571,249,00889.42
Lombardy Bergamo   Brescia   Cremona   Como   Mantua   Milan   Pavia   Sondrio   Varese 2,172,59540.093,246,66959.915,545,79493.15
Marche Ascoli Piceno   Ancona   Macerata   Pesaro 370,79442.38504,22657.62903,80992.28
Molise Campobasso   Isernia 104,22160.0469,37239.96178,48475.87
Piedmont Alessandria   Asti   Cuneo   Novara   Turin   Vercelli 838,14329.172,035,54670.832,954,95690.79
Sardinia Cagliari   Nuoro   Sassari 338,34444.80416,96555.20768,79281.93
Sicily Agrigento   Caltanissetta   Catania   Enna   Palermo   Ragusa   Syracuse   Trapani 1,163,07449.421,190,26850.582,404,64076.59
Trentino-Alto Adige Bolzano   Trento 247,91750.60242,05149.40505,57889.82
Tuscany Arezzo   Florence   Grosseto   Livorno   Lucca   Massa-Carrara   Pisa   Pistoia   Siena 722,10530.401,653,19869.602,425,08893.95
Umbria Perugia   Terni 170,05432.63351,07767.37532,52592.79
Veneto Belluno   Padua   Rovigo   Treviso   Venice   Verona   Vicenza 1,322,96451.081,267,00148.922,650,67693.60
Italy 13,157,55840.7419,138,30059.2633,023,17987.72
Source: Ministry of the Interior

By most populated city

CityYesNoVotersTurnout
Votes%Votes%
Turin 154,90820.14614,06679.86780,79990.71
Milan 293,04526.50812,95573.501,121,92691.03
Genoa 128,66924.30400,70775.70538,63288.58
Venice 68,64729.23166,22270.77238,69794.03
Bologna 94,69526.74259,38973.26359,70596.27
Florence 91,35928.73226,67271.27323,25894.25
Rome 539,60131.991,147,27968.011,705,07989.38
Naples 238,46439.70362,21860.30606,15779.72
Palermo 135,14943.71174,02456.29313,22876.51

See also

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References

  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1048 ISBN   978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Oscar Sanguinetti and Pierluigi Zoccatelli (2022) Costruiremo ancora Cattedrali. Per una storia delle origini di Alleanza Cattolica, D'Ettoris