General election in Italy 1953
The parliamentary elections of 1953 , which took place on June 7th , were the third after the end of fascism in Italy and the introduction of equal women and men suffrage. Over 30 million Italians were eligible to vote. Both chambers of parliament - Camera dei deputati and Senate - were newly elected.
background
In the course of the Cold War in 1947, the anti-fascist united front consisting of Christian Democrats, Communists, Socialists and left liberals (PdA, PRI) dissolved at the national parliamentary level. The incumbent Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi formed a central government (DC, PSDI, PLI, PRI), which was confirmed by the 1948 elections. After socialists and communists had left the government, they formed a common electoral alliance for 1948, the Fronte Democratico Popolare (FDP, from which the right wing of the socialists left and was re-constituted as the Social Democratic Party ). For 1953, communists and socialists no longer formed a joint electoral alliance, but a formal alliance was maintained. The de Gasperi government succeeded in integrating it into the western bloc under the leadership of the USA. This enabled funds from the Marshall Plan to be requested; these and state investments contributed to an economic boom ( miracolo economico ) that lasted until the late 1960s and made Italy a prosperous industrial nation. In poor southern Italy, too, the economic situation improved as a result of an - albeit hesitant - land reform that eased the situation of smallholders and tenants and prevented further social unrest.
For 1953 tried de Gasperi impose an electoral law that the Mussolini of 1924 was similar: If a party obtain the absolute majority of seats, she remembered equal to a two-thirds majority. This was heavily criticized by his political opponents and referred to as legge truffa (Fraud Act).
The elections brought losses for the Christian Democrats, who lost an absolute majority of seats, and gains for the left parties and the far right, probably because of the dissatisfaction of many with the plans for the electoral law. A few months after the election, de Gasperi resigned and Giuseppe Pella was his successor. The following legislative period was marked by great instability; a total of six cabinets followed one another.
Results
| Political party | Number of votes | Mandates |
|---|---|---|
| Democrazia Cristiana (DC) | 40.1% | 263 |
| Partito Comunista Italiano (PCI) | 22.6% | 143 |
| Partito Socialista Italiano (PSI) | 12.7% | 75 |
| Partito Nazionale Monarchico (PNM) | 6.9% | 40 |
| Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI) | 5.8% | 29 |
| Partito Socialista Democratico Italiano (PSDI) | 4.5% | 19th |
| Partito Liberale Italiano (PLI) | 3.0% | 13 |
| Partito Repubblicano Italiano (PRI) | 1.6% | 5 |
| South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP) | 0.5% | 1 |
| Others | 2.3% | - |
See also
- History of Italy # Cold War and Economic Miracle, conflict between Christian Democrats and Communists
- Political system of Italy
Footnotes
- ^ Friederike Hausmann: Brief history of Italy. From 1943 to the post-Berlusconi era , Berlin 2006, pp. 50–66.
- ↑ Also for the disruptive effect of their approval procedures in the Senate: Come il Senato si scoprì vaso di coccio , in L'Ago e il filo, 2014 .
literature
- Friederike Hausmann : A Brief History of Italy. From 1943 to the post-Berlusconi era , Wagenbach 2006. ISBN 978-3-8031-2550-7 .
