The Acerbo Law was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 electoral

Election

An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...

 law proposed by Baron Giacomo Acerbo

Giacomo Acerbo

Giacomo Acerbo, Baron of Aterno was an Italian economist and Fascist politician that drafted the Acerbo Law which solidified Benito Mussolini's position once in power.-Early life:...

 and passed by the Italian Parliament

Parliament of Italy

The Parliament of Italy is the national parliament of Italy. It is a bicameral legislature with 945 elected members . The Chamber of Deputies, with 630 members is the lower house. The Senate of the Republic is the upper house and has 315 members .Since 2005, a party list electoral law is being...

 in 1924. The purpose of it was to give Mussolini's

Benito Mussolini

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....

 fascist

Italian Fascism

Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...

 party

National Fascist Party

The National Fascist Party was an Italian political party, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of fascism...

 a majority of deputies.

Background

In 1922, Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini

Benito Mussolini

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....

 became the leader of Fascist Italy as a result of the March on Rome

March on Rome

The March on Rome was a march by which Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party came to power in the Kingdom of Italy...

. However he still only had 34 deputies in Parliament and 10 Nationalist allies. He was in a weak position and relied on a coalition

Coalition

A coalition is a pact or treaty among individuals or groups, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own self-interest, joining forces together for a common cause. This alliance may be temporary or a matter of convenience. A coalition thus differs from a more formal covenant...

 with other parties that could easily unravel and force King

King of Italy

King of Italy is a title adopted by many rulers of the Italian peninsula after the fall of the Roman Empire...

 Victor Emmanuel III to dismiss him. The idea was to change the voting system from proportional representation

Proportional representation

Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...

 to a system which would allow Mussolini to have a clear majority.

Terms of the Law

The Acerbo Law stated that the party gaining the largest share of the votes – provided they had gained at least 25 percent of the votes – gained two-thirds of the seats in parliament. The remaining third was shared amongst the other parties proportionally

Proportional representation

Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...

.

Reasoning

Mussolini could only count on the support of 35 Fascist deputies and 10 Nationalists. The Law was passed on a majority vote. The obvious question is why a majority of deputies from other parties voted for the Law knowing that one way or another Mussolini would gain the 25% required. The Socialists

Italian Socialist Party

The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...

 voted against it but made no effort to coordinate other parties to oppose it. The PPI or Popolari were divided and leaderless after Mussolini had engineered the dismissal of Luigi Sturzo

Luigi Sturzo

Don Luigi Sturzo was an Italian Catholic priest and politician. Known in his lifetime as a "clerical socialist," Sturzo is considered one of the fathers of Christian democracy. Sturzo was one of the founders of the Partito Popolare Italiano in 1919, but was forced into exile in 1924 with the rise...

. The official policy was to abstain but 14 deputies voted for the measure. The smaller Liberal parties generally voted in favour. They lacked clear direction and many believed Mussolini's talk of strong government or hoped to keep their positions. There is no doubt that the presence of armed squadristi in the Chamber intimidated many into voting for the measure.

The 1924 election

An election was held straight afterwards under the new rules. Ironically Mussolini got two thirds of the vote so he would have held a clear majority under the old rules as well as the new. However, the result has to be viewed with some suspicion given widespread violence, intimidation and vote rigging. His opponents were demoralised and unable to put up any coordinated opposition. Also many of the new Fascist deputies were ex Liberal deputies who commanded a substantial personal following especially in the South.