Italian general election, 1946

General elections were held in Italy on 2 June 1946.^[1] They were the first after World War II and elected 556 deputies to a Constituent Assembly. Theoretically, the deputies to be chosen were 573, but the election didn't take place in 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. Electors had two votes: one to elect the representatives, and one to choose the institutional form of the State.

Electoral system

To emphatize 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.^[2] 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.

The race

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 Humbert II. No democratic elections having taken place for more than twenty 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 newly-elected Constituent Assembly.

The three main contestants were: the Christian Democracy, the Socialist Party, and the Communist Party. Smaller parties included the Italian Liberal Party, heir of the pre-fascist and conservative ruling class, which proposed an alliance called National Democratic Union, monarchists groups that created National Bloc of Freedom, and the social liberal Action Party and Labour Democratic Party.

Results

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

Together with the election, a constitutional referendum took place. Italian electors had to choose if they wanted to continue the reign of Humbert II of Savoy or to 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 from Latium and Abruzzo voted to maintain the monarchy.

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