Italian general election, 1919

Italian general election, 1919
Kingdom of Italy
16 November 1919

All 508 seats to the Chamber of Deputies of the Kingdom of Italy
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Leader Nicola Bombacci Don Luigi Sturzo Vittorio Emanuele Orlando
Party Socialist Party People's Party Liberal Democratic
Seats won 156 100 96
Seat change Increase104 new party new party
Popular vote 1,834,792 1,167,354 904,195
Percentage 32.3% 20.5% 15.9%
Swing Increase14.7% new party new party

Prime Minister before election

Vittorio Emanuele Orlando
Liberal Democratic

Elected Prime Minister

Francesco Saverio Nitti
Radical Party

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.

Electoral system

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.[2]

Historical background

The election 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.

In the general election, 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).[4]

Parties and leaders

Party Ideology Leader
Italian Socialist Party (PSI) Socialism, Revolutionary socialism Nicola Bombacci
Italian People's Party (PPI) Christian democracy, Popularism Luigi Sturzo
Democratic Liberal Party (PLD) Radicalism, Progressivism Vittorio Emanuele Orlando
Social Democratic Party (PDSI) Social liberalism, Radicalism Giovanni Antonio Colonna
Liberal Union (UL) Liberalism, Centrism Giovanni Giolitti
Combatants' Party (PdC) Italian nationalism, Veteran interests several
Radical Party (PR) Radicalism, Republicanism Francesco Saverio Nitti
Economic Party (PE) Conservatism, Liberism several
Reformist Socialist Party (PSRI) Democratic socialism, Social democracy Leonida Bissolati
Italian Republican Party (PRI) Republicanism, Radicalism Salvatore Barzilai

Results

Summary of the 16 November 1919 Chamber of Deputies election results
Party Votes % Seats +/−
Italian Socialist Party1,834,79232.3156+104
Italian People's Party1,167,35420.5100New
Democratic Liberal Party904,19515.996New
Italian Social Democratic Party622,31010.960New
Liberal Union490,3848.641−229
Combatants' Party232,9234.120New
Radical Party110,6971.912−50
Economic Party87,4501.57New
Italian Reformist Socialist Party82,1571.46−13
Dissident People's Party65,4211.20New
Italian Republican Party53,1970.99+1
Independent Socialists33,9380.61−7
Invalid/blank votes108,674
Total5,793,492100508±0
Registered voters/turnout10,239,32656.6
Popular vote
PSI
 
32.28%
PPI
 
20.53%
PLD
 
15.91%
PDSI
 
10.95%
UL
 
8.63%
PdC
 
4.10%
PR
 
1.95%
PE
 
1.54%
PSRI
 
1.45%
Others
 
2.68%

First party by Region

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

References

  1. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1047 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Nohlen & Stöver, p1032
  3. 1 2 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. Piergiorgio Corbetta; Maria Serena Piretti, Atlante storico-elettorale d'Italia, Zanichelli, Bologna 2009
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