1974 Italian divorce referendum

An abrogative referendum on the divorce law was held in Italy on 12 May 1974. 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.

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?
Outcome	Divorce law remains in force
Results
Choice Votes % Yes 13,157,558 40.74% No 19,138,300 59.26% Valid votes 32,295,858 97.80% Invalid or blank votes 727,321 2.20% Total votes 33,023,179 100.00% Registered voters/turnout 37,646,322 87.72%
Blue indicates provinces with a majority Yes vote, while Red indicates provinces with a majority No vote.

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. 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.

Choice	Parties		Political orientation	Leader
Y Yes		Christian Democracy (DC)	Christian democracy	Amintore Fanfani
		Italian Social Movement (MSI)	Neo-fascism	Giorgio Almirante
N 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 "Sì" (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

Choice	Votes	%
Yes	13,157,558	40.74
N No	19,138,300	59.26
Invalid/blank votes	727,321	–
Total	33,023,179	100
Registered voters/turnout	37,646,322	87.72
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

Region		Provinces	Yes		No		Voters	Turnout
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Abruzzo	Chieti • L'Aquila • Pescara • Teramo	332,899	48.87	348,229	51.13	698,591	82.16
	Aosta Valley	–	16,753	24.94	50,412	75.06	69,731	86.81
	Apulia	Bari • Brindisi • Foggia • Lecce • Taranto	996,017	52.60	897,630	47.40	1,930,165	84.66
	Basilicata	Matera • Potenza	159,339	53.58	138,024	46.42	306,461	78.87
	Calabria	Catanzaro • Cosenza • Reggio Calabria	460,118	50.85	444,732	49.15	929,809	74.14
	Campania	Avellino • Benevento • Caserta • Naples • Salerno	1,300,382	52.23	1,189,374	47.77	2,536,839	79.27
	Emilia-Romagna	Bologna • Ferrara • Forlì • Modena • Parma • Piacenza • Ravenna • Reggio Emilia	771,689	29.03	1,886,376	70.97	2,718,077	95.28
	Friuli-Venezia Giulia	Gorizia • Pordenone • Trieste • Udine	292,762	36.16	516,798	63.84	827,951	89.94
	Lazio	Frosinone • Latina • Rieti • Rome • Viterbo	1,042,313	36.62	1,804,009	63.38	2,892,505	89.58
	Liguria	Genoa • Imperia • La Spezia • Savona	335,075	27.43	886,343	72.57	1,249,008	89.42
	Lombardy	Bergamo • Brescia • Cremona • Como • Mantua • Milan • Pavia • Sondrio • Varese	2,172,595	40.09	3,246,669	59.91	5,545,794	93.15
	Marche	Ascoli Piceno • Ancona • Macerata • Pesaro	370,794	42.38	504,226	57.62	903,809	92.28
	Molise	Campobasso • Isernia	104,221	60.04	69,372	39.96	178,484	75.87
	Piedmont	Alessandria • Asti • Cuneo • Novara • Turin • Vercelli	838,143	29.17	2,035,546	70.83	2,954,956	90.79
	Sardinia	Cagliari • Nuoro • Sassari	338,344	44.80	416,965	55.20	768,792	81.93
	Sicily	Agrigento • Caltanissetta • Catania • Enna • Palermo • Ragusa • Syracuse • Trapani	1,163,074	49.42	1,190,268	50.58	2,404,640	76.59
	Trentino-Alto Adige	Bolzano • Trento	247,917	50.60	242,051	49.40	505,578	89.82
	Tuscany	Arezzo • Florence • Grosseto • Livorno • Lucca • Massa-Carrara • Pisa • Pistoia • Siena	722,105	30.40	1,653,198	69.60	2,425,088	93.95
	Umbria	Perugia • Terni	170,054	32.63	351,077	67.37	532,525	92.79
	Veneto	Belluno • Padua • Rovigo • Treviso • Venice • Verona • Vicenza	1,322,964	51.08	1,267,001	48.92	2,650,676	93.60
	Italy		13,157,558	40.74	19,138,300	59.26	33,023,179	87.72
Source: Ministry of the Interior

By most populated city

City		Yes		No		Voters	Turnout
		Votes	%	Votes	%
	Turin	154,908	20.14	614,066	79.86	780,799	90.71
	Milan	293,045	26.50	812,955	73.50	1,121,926	91.03
	Genoa	128,669	24.30	400,707	75.70	538,632	88.58
	Venice	68,647	29.23	166,222	70.77	238,697	94.03
	Bologna	94,695	26.74	259,389	73.26	359,705	96.27
	Florence	91,359	28.73	226,672	71.27	323,258	94.25
	Rome	539,601	31.99	1,147,279	68.01	1,705,079	89.38
	Naples	238,464	39.70	362,218	60.30	606,157	79.72
	Palermo	135,149	43.71	174,024	56.29	313,228	76.51

See also

• Referendums in Italy