Italian general election, 1958
Encyclopedia
The Italian elections of 1958 were held on May 25, and selected the third Parliament of the Italian Republic. The number of MPs to be elected was calculated upon the population's size for the last time.
The pure party-list proportional representation
was definitely adopted 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 list
s 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 9 more members. The candidates needed a landslide victory of two thirds of votes to be elected: only 5 hoping senators reached this goal. 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.
formula. Christian Democracy
was polarized by a fraction which liked more leftist politics, and another one which urged for a rightist route. Party's secretary Amintore Fanfani
was in the first field, and called for a dialogue with the Italian Socialist Party
, which had frozen its relationships with the Italian Communist Party
after the Hungarian Revolution. Fanfani led a year-term government, but the reaction of the conservative fraction gave the power to Antonio Segni
, followed by Fernando Tambroni
who received a decisive vote of confidence by neo-fascist Italian Social Movement
. The MSI had been banned by any type of political power since its birth under the theory of the Constitutional Arch
, which stated that any government or opposition party which had voted the Italian Constitution, had to refuse any relationship with fascist and monarchist forces, seen as anti-constitutional groups. Strikes and revolts causing some casualties erupted through the country, and Tambroni had to resign. Fanfani returned to the premiership, this time with an openly centre-left
programme supported by the socialist abstention. The government created the middle school
for workers' sons, and the ENEL
after the electric energy nationalisation.
Electoral system
The electoral law received minor edits in 1958, creating a legislation which would never be changed until its abrogation in 1993.The pure party-list proportional representation
Party-list proportional representation
Party-list proportional representation systems are a family of voting systems emphasizing proportional representation in elections in which multiple candidates are elected...
was definitely adopted 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 list
Open list
Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a party's candidates are elected...
s using the largest remainder method
Largest remainder method
The largest remainder method is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems...
with Imperiali quota
Imperiali quota
The Imperiali quota is a formula used to calculate the minimum number, or quota, of votes required to capture a seat in some forms of single transferable vote or largest remainder method party-list proportional representation voting systems....
. Remaining votes and seats were transferred at national level, where they was divided using the Hare quota
Hare quota
The Hare quota is a formula used under some forms of the Single Transferable Vote system and the largest remainder method of party-list proportional representation...
, and automatically distributed to best losers into the local lists.
For the Senate, 237 single-seat constituencies were established, even if the assembly had 9 more members. The candidates needed a landslide victory of two thirds of votes to be elected: only 5 hoping senators reached this goal. All remained votes and seats were grouped in party lists and regional constituencies, where a D'Hondt method
D'Hondt method
The d'Hondt method is a highest averages method for allocating seats in party-list proportional representation. The method described is named after Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt who described it in 1878...
was used: inside the lists, candidates with the best percentages were elected.
Results
The election gave similar results of five years before and, consequently, the same problems of political instability of the centristCentrism
In politics, centrism is the ideal or the practice of promoting policies that lie different from the standard political left and political right. Most commonly, this is visualized as part of the one-dimensional political spectrum of left-right politics, with centrism landing in the middle between...
formula. Christian Democracy
Christian Democracy (Italy)
Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....
was polarized by a fraction which liked more leftist politics, and another one which urged for a rightist route. Party's secretary Amintore Fanfani
Amintore Fanfani
Amintore Fanfani was an Italian career politician and the 33rd man to serve the office of Prime Minister of the State. He was one of the well-known Italian politicians after the Second World War, and a historical figure of the Christian Democracy .Fanfani and Giovanni Giolitti are still actually...
was in the first field, and called for a dialogue with the Italian Socialist Party
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...
, which had frozen its relationships with the Italian Communist Party
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played...
after the Hungarian Revolution. Fanfani led a year-term government, but the reaction of the conservative fraction gave the power to Antonio Segni
Antonio Segni
Antonio Segni was an Italian politician who was the 35th Prime Minister of Italy , and the fourth President of the Italian Republic from 1962 to 1964...
, followed by Fernando Tambroni
Fernando Tambroni
Fernando Tambroni Armaroli was an Italian politician of the Christian Democratic Party. He was a lawyer, a prominent supporter of law and order policies, and for a brief time in 1960, the 37th Prime Minister of Italy...
who received a decisive vote of confidence by neo-fascist Italian Social Movement
Italian Social Movement
The Italian Social Movement , and later the Italian Social Movement–National Right , was a neo-fascist and post-fascist political party in Italy. Formed in 1946 by supporters of former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, the party became the fourth largest party in Italy by the early 1960s...
. The MSI had been banned by any type of political power since its birth under the theory of the Constitutional Arch
Constitutional Arch
The term Constitutional arch was conceived and used in the Italian political debate during the first fifty years of the Italian Republic. This expression linked the Italian political parties which had been actors in the drafting and approval of the Italian Constitution of 1948.The arch therefore...
, which stated that any government or opposition party which had voted the Italian Constitution, had to refuse any relationship with fascist and monarchist forces, seen as anti-constitutional groups. Strikes and revolts causing some casualties erupted through the country, and Tambroni had to resign. Fanfani returned to the premiership, this time with an openly centre-left
Centre-left
Centre-left is a political term that describes individuals, political parties or organisations such as think tanks whose ideology lies between the centre and the left on the left-right spectrum...
programme supported by the socialist abstention. The government created the middle school
Middle school
Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...
for workers' sons, and the ENEL
Enel
Enel may refer to:*Enel SpA, an Italian electricity company*Enel , a fictional villain in the One Piece manga and anime series*Enel, meaning third in the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, cf. Awakening of the Elves...
after the electric energy nationalisation.
Chamber of Deputies
| Christian Democracy Christian Democracy (Italy) Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield .... |
42.4% | 273 |  10 |
||
| Italian Communist Party Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played... |
22.7% | 140 |  3 |
||
| Italian Socialist Party 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... |
14.2% | 84 | 9 |
||
| Italian Social Movement Italian Social Movement The Italian Social Movement , and later the Italian Social Movement–National Right , was a neo-fascist and post-fascist political party in Italy. Formed in 1946 by supporters of former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, the party became the fourth largest party in Italy by the early 1960s... |
4.8% | 24 | 5 |
||
| Italian Democratic Socialist Party | 4.6% | 22 | 3 |
||
| Italian Liberal Party Italian Liberal Party The Italian Liberal Party was a liberal political party in Italy.-Origins:The origins of liberalism in Italy came from the so-called "Historical Right", a parliamentary group formed by Camillo Benso di Cavour in the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia following the 1848 revolution... |
3.5% | 17 | 4 |
||
| People's Monarchist Party People's Monarchist Party (Italy) The People's Monarchist Party was an Italian conservative party founded in 1954 by a split from the National Monarchist Party... |
2.6% | 14 | 14 |
||
| Monarchist National Party Monarchist National Party The Monarchist National Party was a political party in Italy founded in 1946, uniting conservatives, liberal conservatives, conservative liberals and nationalists... |
2.2% | 11 | 29 |
||
| Italian Republican Party Italian Republican Party The Italian Republican Party is a liberal political party in Italy.The PRI is party with old roots that originally took a left-wing position, claiming descent from the political position of Giuseppe Mazzini... |
1.4% | 6 | 1 |
||
| Community Movement Community Movement The Community Movement was an Italian political organization founded by Piedmontese progressivist entrepreneur Adriano Olivetti after the end of World War II.... |
0.6% | 1 | 1 |
||
| South Tyrolean People's Party South Tyrolean People's Party The South Tyrolean People's Party is a regionalist Christian democratic political party active in the Italian province of South Tyrol.Founded in 1945, the SVP represents the German-speaking population of the province, as well as Ladin speakers. Since the first election of the Provincial Council in... |
0.5% | 3 |  |
||
| Valdotanian Union Valdotanian Union The Valdotanian Union is a regionalist-centrist Italian political party active in Aosta Valley. Its leaders are Ego Perron, party president, and Augusto Rollandin, President of the Region.... |
0.1% | 1 | 1 |
||
 |
Others | 0.4% | = | |
Senate
| Christian Democracy Christian Democracy (Italy) Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield .... |
41.2% | 123 | 7 |
||
| Italian Communist Party Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played... |
22.2% | 60 | 4 |
||
| Italian Socialist Party 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... |
14.5% | 36 | 6 |
||
| Italian Democratic Socialist Party | 4.4% | 5 | 1 |
||
| Italian Social Movement Italian Social Movement The Italian Social Movement , and later the Italian Social Movement–National Right , was a neo-fascist and post-fascist political party in Italy. Formed in 1946 by supporters of former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, the party became the fourth largest party in Italy by the early 1960s... |
4.3% | 8 | 1 |
||
| Italian Liberal Party Italian Liberal Party The Italian Liberal Party was a liberal political party in Italy.-Origins:The origins of liberalism in Italy came from the so-called "Historical Right", a parliamentary group formed by Camillo Benso di Cavour in the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia following the 1848 revolution... |
3.9% | 4 | 1 |
||
| People's Monarchist Party People's Monarchist Party (Italy) The People's Monarchist Party was an Italian conservative party founded in 1954 by a split from the National Monarchist Party... |
3.0% | 5 | 5 |
||
| Monarchist National Party Monarchist National Party The Monarchist National Party was a political party in Italy founded in 1946, uniting conservatives, liberal conservatives, conservative liberals and nationalists... |
2.2% | 2 | 14 |
||
| South Tyrolean People's Party South Tyrolean People's Party The South Tyrolean People's Party is a regionalist Christian democratic political party active in the Italian province of South Tyrol.Founded in 1945, the SVP represents the German-speaking population of the province, as well as Ladin speakers. Since the first election of the Provincial Council in... |
0.5% | 2 | |
||
 |
Rampant Lion (PCI Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played... -PSI 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... -UV Valdotanian Union The Valdotanian Union is a regionalist-centrist Italian political party active in Aosta Valley. Its leaders are Ego Perron, party president, and Augusto Rollandin, President of the Region.... for Aosta Valley) |
0.1% | 1 | 1 |
|
|
Others | 3.7% | = | 1 |