1913 Italian general election

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1913 Italian general election

← 1909 26 October–2 November 1913 1919 →

All 508 seats to the Chamber of Deputies of the Kingdom of Italy
  Majority party Minority party Third party
  Giovanni Giolitti.jpg 160x160px 160x160px
Leader Giovanni Giolitti Costantino Lazzari Ettore Sacchi
Party Liberal Union (Italy) Socialist Party Radical Party
Seats won 270 52 62
Seat change Decrease59 Increase11 Increase14
Popular vote 2,387,947 883,409 522,522
Percentage 47.6% 17.6% 10.4%
Swing Decrease6.8% Decrease1.4% Increase0.5%

Prime Minister before election

Giovanni Giolitti
Liberal Union (Italy)

Elected Prime Minister

Giovanni Giolitti
Liberal Union (Italy)

General elections were held in Italy on 26 October 1913, with a second round of voting on 2 November.[1] The Liberals (the former Ministeriali) narrowly retained an absolute majority in the Chamber of Deputies, while the Radical Party emerged as the largest opposition bloc. Both groupings did particularly well in Southern Italy, while the Italian Socialist Party gained eight seats and was the largest party in Emilia-Romagna.[2] However, the election marked the beginning of the decline of Liberal establishment.

There were episodes of violence during the election.[3]

Electoral reform

Changes made in 1912 widened the voting franchise to include literate men aged 21, men who had served in the army or navy (regardless of whether they were 21 years old), and illiterate men over the age of 30.[3][4] This raised the number of eligible voters from 2,930,473 in 1909 to 8,443,205.[5] The electoral system remained single-member constituencies with two-round majority voting.[4]

Historical background

The two historical parliamentary factions, the liberal and progressive Left and the conservative and monarchist Right, formed a single liberal and centrist group, known as Liberal Union, under the leadership of Giovanni Giolitti. This phenomenon, known in Italian as Trasformismo (roughly translatable in English as "transformism"—in a satirical newspaper, the PM was depicted as a chameleon), effectively removed political differences in Parliament, which was dominated by an undistinguished liberal bloc with a landslide majority until after World War I. Two parliamentary factions alternated in government, one led by Sidney Sonnino and the other, by far the larger of the two, by Giolitti. At that time the Liberals governed in alliance with the Radicals, the Democrats and, eventually, the Reform Socialists.[6] This alliance governed against two smaller opposition: The Clericals, composed by some Vatican-oriented politicians, The Extreme, formed by the socialist faction which represented a real left in a present-day concept.[6]

Parties and leaders

Party Ideology Leader
Liberal Union (UL) Liberalism Giovanni Giolitti
Italian Socialist Party (PSI) Socialism Costantino Lazzari
Italian Radical Party (PR) Radicalism Ettore Sacchi
Constitutional Democratic Party (PDC) Social liberalism several
Catholic Electoral Union (UECI) Christian democracy Ottorino Gentiloni
Italian Reformist Socialist Party (PSRI) Social democracy Leonida Bissolati
Democratic Party (PD) Social liberalism several
Italian Republican Party (PRI) Republicanism Napoleone Colajanni
Conservative Catholics (CC) Clericalism several

Coalitions

Coalition Parties
Majority
Liberal Union (UL)
Italian Radical Party (PR)
Constitutional Democratic Party (PDC)
Catholic Electoral Union (UECI)
Democratic Party (PD)
Conservative Catholics (CC)
Opposition
Italian Socialist Party (PSI)
Italian Reformist Socialist Party (PSRI)
Italian Republican Party (PRI)

Results

Summary of November 1913 Chamber of Deputies election results
Party Votes % Seats +/−
Liberal Union 2,387,947 47.6 270 New
Italian Socialist Party 883,409 17.6 52 +11
Italian Radical Party 522,522 10.4 62 +14
Constitutional Democratic Party 277,251 5.5 29 New
Catholic Electoral Union 212,319 4.2 20 +2
Italian Reformist Socialist Party 196,406 3.9 19 New
Democratic Party 138,967 2.8 11 New
Italian Republican Party 102,102 2.0 8 −15
Conservative Catholics 89,630 1.8 9 New
Dissident Republicans 71,564 1.4 9 New
Independent Socialists 67,133 1.3 8 New
Dissident Radicals 65,671 1.3 11 New
Invalid/blank votes 85,694
Total 5,100,615 100 508 ±0
Registered voters/turnout 8,443,205 60.4
Source: Nohlen & Stöver
Popular vote
UL
  
47.62%
PSI
  
17.62%
PR
  
10.42%
PDC
  
5.53%
UECI
  
4.23%
PSRI
  
3.92%
PD
  
2.77%
PRI
  
2.04%
CC
  
1.79%
Others
  
4.08%
Parliamentary seats
UL
  
53.15%
PR
  
12.20%
PSI
  
10.24%
PDC
  
5.71%
UECI
  
3.94%
PSRI
  
3.74%
PD
  
2.17%
CC
  
1.77%
PRI
  
1.57%
Others
  
5.51%

First party by Region

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

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1047 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Piergiorgio Corbetta; Maria Serena Piretti, Atlante storico-elettorale d'Italia, Zanichelli, Bologna 2009
  3. 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Nohlen & Stöver, p1031
  5. Nohlen & Stöver, p1050
  6. 6.0 6.1 Italian Liberal Party Archived 2006-11-21 at the Wayback Machine, Britannica Concise