1946 Italian general election

1946 Italian general election

2 June 1946
All 556 seats in the Constituent Assembly
Registered	28,005,449
Turnout	24,947,187 · 89.1%
Majority party Minority party Third party   120px Leader Alcide De Gasperi Pietro Nenni Palmiro Togliatti Party Christian Democracy Socialist Party Communist Party Leader since 29 December 1944 22 August 1943 15 May 1943 Leader's seat Trento Whole Italy Whole Italy Seats won 207 115 104 Popular vote 8,101,004 4,758,129 4,356,686 Percentage 35.2% 20.7% 18.9%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   120px 120px Leader Luigi Einaudi Guglielmo Giannini Randolfo Pacciardi Party National Democratic Union Common Man's Front Republican Party Leader since March 1946 18 February 1946 May 1945 Leader's seat Whole Italy Rome Pisa Seats won 41 30 23 Popular vote 1,560,638 1,211,956 1,003,007 Percentage 6.7% 5.3% 4.4%
230px Results of the election by province.
Prime Minister before election Alcide De Gasperi Christian Democracy Prime Minister after the election Alcide De Gasperi Christian Democracy

The 1946 Italian general election was held in Italy on Sunday, 2 June 1946. They were the first after World War II and elected 556 deputies to the Constituent Assembly. Theoretically, a total of 573 deputies were to be elected, but the election did not take place in the Julian March and in South Tyrol, which were under military occupation by the United Nations.

For the first time, Italian women were allowed to vote in a national election. It was held concurrently with the 1946 Italian institutional referendum on the abolition of the monarchy.

Electoral system

To emphasise the restoration of democracy after the fascist era, a pure party-list proportional representation was chosen. Italian provinces were united in 31 constituencies, each electing a group of candidates. At constituency level, seats were divided between open lists using the largest remainder method with the Imperiali quota. Remaining votes and seats were transferred at national level, where special closed lists of national leaders received the last seats using the Hare quota.

Campaign

At the end of World War II, Italy was governed under transitional laws as a result of agreements between the National Liberation Committee (CLN) and the royal Lieutenant General of the Realm Umberto II of Italy. As no democratic elections had taken place for more than 20 years, legislative power was given to the government but, after the first election, the Italian Council of Ministers would have to receive a vote of confidence by the new Constituent Assembly.

The three main contestants were Christian Democracy and the Italian Socialist Party, which had both received popular support before the fascist era, and the Italian Communist Party, which had strengthened itself with the armed struggle against Nazism and fascism during the war. The Italian Liberal Party, heir of the pre-fascist and conservative ruling class, proposed an alliance called National Democratic Union. Monarchists groups created the National Bloc of Freedom, while the liberal socialist Action Party and Labour Democratic Party hoped to maximize the positive image of the governments that they ruled in the National Liberation Committee.

Parties and leaders

Party		Ideology	Leader
	Christian Democracy (DC)	Christian democracy, Popularism	Alcide De Gasperi
	Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity (PSIUP)	Socialism, Democratic socialism	Pietro Nenni
	Italian Communist Party (PCI)	Communism, Marxism-Leninism	Palmiro Togliatti
	National Democratic Union (UDN)	Liberalism, Conservatism	Luigi Einaudi
	Common Man's Front (UQ)	Populism, Conservatism	Guglielmo Giannini
	Italian Republican Party (PRI)	Republicanism, Social liberalism	Randolfo Pacciardi
	National Bloc of Freedom (BNL)	Conservatism, Monarchism	Alfredo Covelli
	Action Party (PdA)	Republicanism, Liberal socialism	Ugo La Malfa

Results

See also: Graph of Italian general elections

The election gave a large majority to the government formed by the three leaders of the CLN, which was briefly joined by the Republican Party after the exile of Umberto II. The alliance lasted for a year.

← Summary of the 2 June 1946 Constituent Assembly election results →

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Christian Democracy (DC)	8,101,004	35.21	207
	Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity (PSIUP)	4,758,129	20.68	115
	Italian Communist Party (PCI)	4,356,686	18.93	104
	National Democratic Union (UDN)	1,560,638	6.78	41
	Common Man's Front (UQ)	1,211,956	5.27	30
	Italian Republican Party (PRI)	1,003,007	4.36	23
	National Bloc of Freedom (BNL)	637,328	2.77	16
	Action Party (PdA)	334,748	1.45	7
	Movement for the Independence of Sicily (MIS)	171,201	0.74	4
	Peasants' Party of Italy (PCdI)	102,393	0.44	1
	Republican Democratic Concentration (CDR)	97,690	0.42	2
	Sardinian Action Party (PSd'Az)	78,554	0.34	2
	Italian Unionist Movement (MUI)	71,021	0.31	1
	Social Christian Party (PCS)	51,088	0.22	1
	Labour Democratic Party (PDL)	40,633	0.18	1
	Republican Progressive Democratic Front (FDPR)	21,853	0.09	1
	Others	412,550	1.79	0
Invalid/blank votes		1,936,708	–	–
Total		24,947,187	100	556
Registered voters/turnout		28,005,449	89.08	–
Source: Ministry of Interior

Popular vote
DC			35.21%
PSIUP			20.68%
PCI			18.93%
UDN			6.78%
UQ			5.27%
PRI			4.36%
BNL			2.77%
PdA			1.45%
Others			4.53%

Parliamentary seats
DC			37.23%
PSIUP			20.68%
PCI			18.71%
UDN			7.37%
UQ			5.40%
PRI			4.14%
BNL			2.88%
PdA			1.26%
Others			2.34%

Results by constituency

Constituency	Total seats	Seats won
		DC	PSIUP	PCI	UDN	UQ	PRI	BNL	PdA	Others
Turin	25	9	9	6	1
Cuneo	16	7	4	3	1					1
Genoa	16	6	5	5
Milan	34	12	12	9		1
Como	12	6	5	1
Brescia	15	9	4	2
Mantua	8	3	3	2
Trentino	4	3	1
Verona	27	15	8	4
Venice	13	7	4	2
Udine	11	6	4	1
Bologna	22	4	7	9			2
Parma	19	6	6	7
Florence	12	4	3	5
Pisa	13	5	3	4			1
Siena	8	2	2	4
Ancona	13	5	3	3			2
Perugia	9	3	2	3			1
Rome	29	11	3	4	2	2	5	2
L'Aquila	12	7	2	1	1		1
Benevento	7	4			2	1
Naples	27	11	2	2	6	4		2
Avellino	12	4	1	1	3	1		1		1
Bari	18	7	2	4	1	4
Lecce	12	5	1	1	2			3
Potenza	5	2	1	1	1
Catanzaro	21	8	2	3	3	2	1	2
Catania	23	10	3	1	4	2		1		2
Palermo	21	8	3	2	3	2	1			2
Cagliari	11	6	1	1		1				2
Aosta Valley	1									1
National	80	12	9	13	11	10	9	5	7	4
Total	556	207	115	104	41	30	23	16	7	13

Maps

275px

Seat distribution by constituency.

Referendum

Main article: Italian constitutional referendum, 1946

Together with the election, a constitutional referendum took place. Italian electors chose whether to continue the reign of Umberto II of Italy or turn Italy into a republic. While all regions of northern Italy as far as Tuscany and Marches gave a majority to the republic, all regions of southern Italy to Lazio and Abruzzo voted to maintain the monarchy.

Choice	Votes	%
Republic	12,717,923	54.3
Monarchy	10,719,284	45.7
Invalid/blank votes	1,498,136	–
Total	24,935,343	100
Registered voters/turnout	28,005,449	89.1
Source: Official Gazzette