Italian general election, 1976

Italian general election, 1976

June 20, 1976

All 630 seats in the Italian Chamber of Deputies 316 seats were needed for a majority in the Chamber 315 (of the 322) seats in the Italian Senate Turnout 93.4%   Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Benigno Zaccagnini Enrico Berlinguer Francesco De Martino Party Christian Democracy Communist Party Socialist Party Leader since 1963 Leader's seat XII - Eastern Emilia XX - Latium III - Milan Last election 266 & 135 seats, 38.7% 179 & 94 seats, 27.2% 61 & 33 seats Seats won 263 (H) 135 (S) 227 (H) 116 (S) 57 (H) 29 (S) Seat change 3 70 8 Popular vote 14,218,298 12,622,728 3,542,998 Percentage 38.7% 34.4% 9.6% Swing 0% 7.2% 0.4%

Legislative election results map. Light Blue denotes provinces with a Christian Democratic plurality, Red denotes those with a Communist plurality, Dark gray denotes those with a South Tyrolean People's Party plurality.

Prime Minister before election Aldo Moro DC New Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti DC

General elections were held in Italy on June 20, 1976.^[1] They were the first after the voting age was lowered to 18.

If Christian Democracy remained stable with around 38% of votes, Enrico Berlinguer's Italian Communist Party made a great jump winning 7 points more than four years before: this result, which was quite homogeneous in the entire society because confirmed by the electors of the age-restricted Senate,^[2] began to show the possibility of a future change of the Italian government leadership. All minor parties lost a lot of votes to the DC in the attempt to fight the Communist progress: between them, historic Italian Liberal Party was nearly annihilated. Two new leftist forces made their debut in this election: the ultra-liberal Radical Party, which had led a successful referendum on divorce, and the far-left Marxist and Maoist Proletarian Democracy.

Electoral system

Regional pluralities in Senate

The pure party-list proportional representation had traditionally become the electoral system for the Chamber of Deputies. Italian provinces were united in 32 constituencies, each electing a group of candidates. At constituency level, seats were divided between open lists using the largest remainder method with Imperiali quota. Remaining votes and seats were transferred at national level, where they was divided using the Hare quota, and automatically distributed to best losers into the local lists.

For the Senate, 237 single-seat constituencies were established, even if the assembly had risen to 315 members. The candidates needed a landslide victory of two thirds of votes to be elected, a goal which could be reached only by the German minorities in South Tirol. All remained votes and seats were grouped in party lists and regional constituencies, where a D'Hondt method was used: inside the lists, candidates with the best percentages were elected.

Parties and leaders

Results

Face to the great result of the PCI, many centrist politicians and businessmen began to think how to avoid the possibility of a future Communist victory which could turn Italy into a Soviet-aligned State. So the DC leadership thought to gradually involve the Communists into the governmental policies so to moderate their requests, as made with the Socialists. The man which was chosen for this attempt did not belong to the leftist wing of the DC, as happened with the PSI, but the moderate leader and former-PM Giulio Andreotti, so to balance the situation and to calm the markets. Its first government ended in 1978, when the PCI decided to grant its external support. However this process, called National Solidarity, was dramatically stopped by the terroristic attacks of the Red Brigades, which kidnapped and killed former-PM Aldo Moro. The country was heavily shocked by these killings, and the Communists returned to a full opposition. Andreotti's attempt then to form a classic centre-left government with the Socialists failed, an a new general election was called for 1979.

Chamber of Deputies

Composition of the Chamber of Deputies after the election.

Senate of the Republic

Composition of the Senate after the election.

References

Elections and referendums in Italy General elections 1861 1865 1867 1870 1874 1876 1880 1882 1886 1890 1892 1895 1897 1900 1904 1909 1913 1919 1921 1924 1929 1934 1946 1948 1953 1958 1963 1968 1972 1976 1979 1983 1987 1992 1994 1996 2001 2006 2008 2013 next European elections 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 Regional elections 1947 1949 1951 1953 1954 1955 1957 1959 1961 1963 1964 1965 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1973 1974 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1981 1983 1984 1985 1986 1988 1989 1990 1991 1993 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2001 2003 2004 2005 2006 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Local elections 1946 1951 1956 1960 1964 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Referendums 1946 1974 1978 1981 1985 1987 1989 1990 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2000 2001 2003 2005 2006 2009 2011 See also: Elections in Abruzzo Aosta Valley Apulia Basilicata Calabria Campania Emilia–Romagna Friuli-Venezia Giulia Lazio Liguria Lombardy Marche Molise Piedmont Sardinia Sicily Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol Tuscany Umbria Veneto