1964 Italian presidential election

The 1964 Italian presidential election was held in Italy from 16 to 28 December 1964, following the resignation of President Antonio Segni on 6 December 1964 due to health problems.

1964 Italian presidential election

← 1962 16–28 December 1964 1971 →

963 voters
(320 Senators, 630 Deputies
and 13 regional representatives[1])

642 (1st–3rd ballots) or 482 (4th ballot onwards) votes needed to win
 
Nominee Giuseppe Saragat
Party PSDI
Electoral vote 646
Percentage 67.1%

President before election

Antonio Segni
DC

Elected President

Giuseppe Saragat
PSDI

Only members of Parliament and regional delegates were entitled to vote, most of these electors having been elected in the 1963 general election. As head of state of the Italian Republic, the President has a role of representation of national unity and guarantees that Italian politics comply with the Italian Constitution, in the framework of a parliamentary system.

Only on the twenty-first round of voting Giuseppe Saragat, the leader of Italian Democratic Socialist Party and former President of the Constituent Assembly, was finally elected President.[2] Saragat was the first left-wing politician to become President of the Republic.[3]

Procedure

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In accordance with the Italian Constitution, the election was held in the form of a secret ballot, with the Senators and the Deputies entitled to vote. The election was held in the Palazzo Montecitorio, home of the Chamber of Deputies, with the capacity of the building expanded for the purpose. The first three ballots required a two-thirds majority of the 963 voters in order to elect a president, or 642 votes. Starting from the fourth ballot, an absolute majority was required for candidates to be elected, or 482 votes. The presidential mandate lasts seven years.

The election was presided over by the President of the Chamber of Deputies Brunetto Bucciarelli-Ducci, who proceeded to the public counting of the votes, and by the Vice president of the Senate Ennio Zelioli-Lanzini, since President Cesare Merzagora was serving as acting President of the Republic.

Proposed nominees

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Chronology

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During summer 1964 the so-called Piano Solo prepared by general Giovanni De Lorenzo was conceived to make a coup d'état and overthrow the first centre-left government led by Aldo Moro. The coup was stopped before taking place, as the Italian Socialist Party agreed to reduce its more radical reformist claims. However, on 7 August 1964, during a heated discussion with the Prime Minister Moro and the leader of the Italian Democratic Socialist Party Giuseppe Saragat, President Antonio Segni suffered a serious cerebral hemorrhage in his office at the Quirinal Palace. He only partially recovered and decided to resign on 6 December 1964, citing health matters. Cesare Merzagora, as President of the Senate, became the acting President of the Republic till a new presidential election was called.

On 16 December 1964, the Italian Parliament convened to elect the new President after just two years since last presidential election occurred.

The official candidate of Christian Democracy was the former president of the Chamber of Deputies Giovanni Leone, whose candidacy was immediately contrasted by the former Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani, preferred by the left-wing faction of the party. As they did two years before, communists sustained again Umberto Terracini, while socialists decided to vote for the democratic socialist leader Giuseppe Saragat.

As the count advanced, both Leone and Fanfani decided to retire from the race, while socialists and communists found a common ground on the candidacy of the socialist leader and Deputy Prime Minister Pietro Nenni. Christian Democracy couldn't sustain Nenni since it'd have been meant to vote for a candidate voted by the communists themselves and thus finding the opposition of the more conservative social groups of the country.

After almost twenty rounds of voting, Christian Democracy decided to not oppose Saragat, a name then married also by socialists and communists. On the twenty-first ballot and after almost two weeks of voting, Giuseppe Saragat was finally elected President by a large margin and sworn in on 29 December 1964.

Results

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Candidate First round
16 Dec 1964
Second round
16 Dec 1964
Third round
17 Dec 1964
Fourth round
17 Dec 1964
Fifth round
18 Dec 1964
Sixth round
19 Dec 1964
Seventh round
19 Dec 1964
Eighth round
20 Dec 1964
Ninth round
21 Dec 1964
Giovanni Leone 319 304 298 290 294 278 313 312 305
Umberto Terracini 250 251 253 249 252 249 251 252 250
Giuseppe Saragat 140 138 137 138 140 133 138
Gaetano Martino 55 56 56 54 54 53
Augusto De Marsanich 39 40 40 39 40
Alcide Malagugini 34 36 36 12
Amintore Fanfani 18 53 71 117 122 129 132 132 128
Paolo Emilio Taviani 11 8
Mario Scelba 6 6
Giulio Pastore 13 18 40 34 40
Paolo Rossi 34 16
Other candidates 19 14 31 8 7 10 7 13 3
Blank papers 39 34 36 28 25 36 26 22 17
Invalid papers 4 2 21 2 1 1 1
Abstentions 30 25 21 26 18 16 21 26 203
Total 963 963 963 963 963 963 963 963 963
Candidate Tenth round
21 Dec 1964
Eleventh round
22 Dec 1964
Twelfth round
22 Dec 1964
Thirteenth round
23 Dec 1964
Fourteenth round
23 Dec 1964
Fifteenth round
24 Dec 1964
Sixteenth round
25 Dec 1964
Seventeenth round
26 Dec 1964
Giovanni Leone 299 382 401 393 406 386
Umberto Terracini 249 252 250
Giuseppe Saragat 6 8 10
Augusto De Marsanich 40 39 40
Alcide Malagugini 36 35 42 40 37 36 33
Amintore Fanfani 129 17
Giulio Pastore 40
Paolo Rossi 20 14 10
Pietro Nenni 96 98 104 351 353 348 349 346
Ludovico Montini 7 6
Other candidates 2 4 18 17 14 10 19 9
Blank papers 18 100 120 129 120 152 100 103
Invalid papers 1 4 6 1 2 1 1
Abstentions 116 59 18 19 28 28 419 414
Total 963 963 963 963 963 963 963 963
Candidate Eighteenth round
26 December 1964
Nineteenth round
27 December 1964
Twentieth round
28 December 1964
Twenty-first round
28 December 1964
Giovanni Leone 7
Giuseppe Saragat 311 342 323 646
Gaetano Martino 60 63 59 56
Augusto De Marsanich 40 39 40 40
Amintore Fanfani 13 10 7
Paolo Rossi 13 8 7 7
Pietro Nenni 380 377 385
Other candidates 4 10 11 24
Blank papers 106 86 100 150
Invalid papers 5 1 4
Abstentions 24 27 31 36
Total 963 963 963 963
Source: Presidency of the Republic

Notes

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References

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  1. ^ Delegates from the five autonomous regions of Italy: Sicily, Sardinia, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Aosta Valley and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol.
  2. ^ "Giuseppe Saragat / Presidenti / Camera dei deputati - Portale storico".
  3. ^ "1964: Tempers Flare as Italian Parliament Fails to Elect New President". 21 December 2014.