1919 Italian general election

General elections were held in Italy on 16 November 1919.[1] The fragmented Liberal governing coalition lost the absolute majority in the Chamber of Deputies, due to the success of the Italian Socialist Party and the Italian People's Party.

1919 Italian general election

← 1913 16 November 1919 1921 →

All 508 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
255 seats needed for a majority
Turnout56.58%
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Leader Nicola Bombacci Don Luigi Sturzo Vittorio Emanuele Orlando
Party PSI PPI LDR
Seats won 156 101 91
Seat change Increase104 new party New
Popular vote 1,834,792 1,167,354 904,195
Percentage 32.28% 20.53% 15.91%


Prime Minister before election

Francesco Saverio Nitti
Radical Party

Elected Prime Minister

Francesco Saverio Nitti
Radical Party

A new election law had expanded the voting rights to a larger section of the population and established a proportional representation system.[2]

Background

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The elections took place in the middle of Biennio Rosso ("Red Biennium") a two-year period, between 1919 and 1920, of intense social conflict in Italy, following the First World War.[3] The revolutionary period was followed by the violent reaction of the Fascist blackshirts militia and eventually by the March on Rome of Benito Mussolini in 1922.

The Biennio Rosso took place in a context of economic crisis at the end of the war, with high unemployment and political instability. It was characterized by mass strikes, worker manifestations as well as self-management experiments through land and factories occupations.[3] In Turin and Milan, workers councils were formed and many factory occupations took place under the leadership of anarcho-syndicalists. The agitations also extended to the agricultural areas of the Padan plain and were accompanied by peasant strikes, rural unrests and guerrilla conflicts between left-wing and right-wing militias.

Electoral system

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The Italian parliament passed a law on August 15, 1919 that replaced the uninominal-majoritarian system with a proportional representation system that apportioned seats based on the D'Hondt method.[2]

The new electoral law introduced in 1919 increased the electorate by more than a quarter to 11 million. It gave all those who had fought at the front in the First World War the right to vote, regardless of their age, as well as all other men over the age of 21.[4] The old system of using single-member constituencies with two-round majority voting was abolished and replaced with proportional representation in 58 constituencies with between 5 and 20 members.[5] The new system favoured parties such as the socialist PSI, which was able to mobilise voters through trade unions, cooperatives and other mass organisations, and the Catholic PPI, which could rely on the support of church associations.[4]

Parties and leaders

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Party Ideology Leader Status before election
Italian Socialist Party (PSI) Socialism Nicola Bombacci Opposition
Italian People's Party (PPI) Christian democracy Luigi Sturzo Government
Liberals, Democrats and Radicals (LDR) Liberalism Vittorio Emanuele Orlando Government
Social Democracy (DS) Social liberalism Giovanni Antonio Colonna Government
Liberal Union (UL) Liberalism Giovanni Giolitti Government
Combatants' Party (PdC) Veteran interests Several Opposition
Radical Party (PR) Radicalism Francesco Saverio Nitti Government
Economic Party (PE) Conservatism Ferdinando Bocca Opposition
Reformist Socialist Party (PSRI) Social democracy Leonida Bissolati Government
Italian Republican Party (PRI) Republicanism Salvatore Barzilai Opposition

Voter turnout

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Region Turnout
Abruzzi e Molise 51.3%
Apulia 54.2%
Basilicata 50.9%
Calabria 47.9%
Campania 49.9
Emilia 71.5%
Lazio 47.5%
Liguria 60.5%
Lombardy 67.4%
Marche 47.6%
Piedmont 63.0%
Sardinia 55.5%
Sicily 44.5%
Tuscany 61.3%
Umbria 56.2%
Veneto 51.5%
Total 56.6%
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Results

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The fragmented Liberal governing coalition lost the absolute majority in the Chamber of Deputies, due to the success of the Italian Socialist Party and the Italian People's Party. The Socialists of Nicola Bombacci received the most votes in almost every region and especially in Emilia-Romagna (60.0%), Piedmont (49.7%), Lombardy (45.9%), Tuscany (41.7%) and Umbria (46.5%), while the People's Party were the largest party in Veneto (42.6%) and came second in Lombardy (30.1%) and the Liberal lists were stronger in Southern Italy (over 50% in Abruzzo, Campania, Basilicata, Apulia, Calabria and Sicily).[6]

 
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Italian Socialist Party1,834,79232.28156+104
Italian People's Party1,167,35420.53100New
Liberals, Democrats and Radicals904,19515.9196New
Social Democracy622,31010.9560New
Liberal Union490,3848.6341−229
Combatants' Party232,9234.1020New
Italian Radical Party110,6971.9512−50
Economic Party87,4501.547New
Italian Reformist Socialist Party82,1571.456−13
Radicals, Republicans, Socialists and Combatants65,4211.155New
Italian Republican Party53,1970.944-4
Independent Socialists33,9380.601−7
Total5,684,818100.005080
Valid votes5,684,81898.12
Invalid/blank votes108,6741.88
Total votes5,793,492100.00
Registered voters/turnout10,239,32656.58
Source: National Institute of Statistics
Popular vote
PSI
32.28%
PPI
20.53%
LDR
15.91%
DS
10.95%
UL
8.63%
PdC
4.10%
PR
1.95%
PE
1.54%
PSRI
1.45%
Others
2.68%
Seats
PSI
30.71%
PPI
19.69%
LDR
18.90%
DS
11.81%
UL
8.07%
PdC
3.94%
PR
2.36%
PE
1.38%
PSRI
1.18%
Others
1.97%

Leading parties by region

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Region First party Second party Third party
Abruzzo-Molise LDRUL PSI PPI
Apulia LDRUL PSI PPI
Basilicata LDRUL PSI PPI
Calabria LDRUL PPI PSI
Campania LDRUL PPI PSI
Emilia-Romagna PSI LDRUL PPI
Lazio LDRUL PPI PSI
Liguria LDRUL PSI PPI
Lombardy PSI PPI LDRUL
Marche PSI LDRUL PPI
Piedmont PSI LDRUL PPI
Sardinia LDRUL PPI PSI
Sicily LDRUL PPI PSI
Tuscany PSI LDRUL PPI
Umbria PSI LDRUL PPI
Veneto PPI PSI LDRUL

References

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  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1047 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. ^ a b Palombara, Joseph G. La (1953). "The Italian Elections and the Problem of Representation". American Political Science Review. 47 (3): 676–703. doi:10.2307/1952900. ISSN 1537-5943. JSTOR 1952900.
  3. ^ a b Brunella Dalla Casa, Composizione di classe, rivendicazioni e professionalità nelle lotte del "biennio rosso" a Bologna, in: AA. VV, Bologna 1920; le origini del fascismo, a cura di Luciano Casali, Cappelli, Bologna 1982, p. 179.
  4. ^ a b Duggan, Fascist Voices, p. 30
  5. ^ Nohlen & Stöver, p1032
  6. ^ Piergiorgio Corbetta; Maria Serena Piretti, Atlante storico-elettorale d'Italia, Zanichelli, Bologna 2009

Sources

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