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1972 Italian general election

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Field	Value
election_name	1972 Italian general election
country	Italy
type	legislative
ongoing	no
previous_election	1968 Italian general election
previous_year	1968
outgoing_members	Legislature V of Italy
next_election	1976 Italian general election
next_year	1976
elected_members	Legislature VI of Italy
seats_for_election	All 630 seats in the Chamber of Deputies316 seats needed for a majorityAll 315 elective seats in the Senate162 seats needed for a majority
election_date	7 May 1972
registered	37,049,351 (C)33,739,592 (S)
turnout	34,525,687 (C)93.2% (0.4 pp)
31,486,399 (S)93.3% (0.3 pp)
image1
leader1	Arnaldo Forlani
leader_since1	9 November 1969
party1	Christian Democracy (Italy)
leaders_seat1	Ancona (C)
seats1	266 (C) / 135 (S)
seat_change1	0 (C) / 0 (S)
popular_vote1	12,919,270 (C)
11,465,529 (S)
percentage1	38.7% (C)
38.1% (S)
swing1	0.4 pp (C)
0.3 pp (S)
image2
leader2	Enrico Berlinguer
leader_since2	17 March 1972
party2	Italian Communist Party
leaders_seat2	Rome (C)
seats2	179 (C) / 94 (S)
seat_change2	2 (C) / 7 (S)
popular_vote2	9,072,454 (C)
8,312,828 (S)
percentage2	27.1% (C)
27.6% (S)
swing2	0.2 pp (C)
2.4 pp (S)
image3
leader3	Francesco De Martino
leader_since3	13 March 1971
party3	Italian Socialist Party
leaders_seat3	Naples (C)
seats3	61 (C) / 33 (S)
seat_change3	—
popular_vote3	3,210,427 (C)
3,225,707 (S)
percentage3	10.0% (C)
10.7% (S)
swing3	—
image4
leader4	Giorgio Almirante
leader_since4	29 June 1969
party4	Italian Social Movement
leaders_seat4	Rome (C)
seats4	56 (C) / 26 (S)
seat_change4	32 (C) / 15 (S)
popular_vote4	2,894,722 (C)
2,766,986 (S)
percentage4	8.7% (C)
9.2% (S)
swing4	4.2 pp (C)
4.6 pp (S)
image5
leader5	Mario Tanassi
leader_since5	24 February 1972
party5	Italian Democratic Socialist Party
leaders_seat5	Rome (C)
seats5	20 (C) / 11 (S)
seat_change5	—
popular_vote5	1,718,142 (C)
1,613,810 (S)
percentage5	5.1% (C)
5.4% (S)
swing5	—
image6
leader6	Giovanni Malagodi
leader_since6	4 April 1954
party6	Italian Liberal Party
leaders_seat6	Milan (C)
seats6	20 (C) / 8 (S)
seat_change6	11 (C) / 8 (S)
popular_vote6	1,300,439 (C)
1,319,175 (S)
percentage6	3.9% (C)
4.4% (S)
swing6	1.9 pp (C)
2.4 pp (S)
map_image	1972 Italian general election - Results.svg
map_size	450px
map_caption	Results of the election in the Chamber and Senate
title	Prime Minister
posttitle	Prime Minister after the election
before_election	Giulio Andreotti
before_party	Christian Democracy (Italy)
after_election	Giulio Andreotti
after_party	Christian Democracy (Italy)

31,486,399 (S)93.3% (0.3 pp) 11,465,529 (S) 38.1% (S) 0.3 pp (S) 8,312,828 (S) 27.6% (S) 2.4 pp (S) 3,225,707 (S) 10.7% (S) 2,766,986 (S) 9.2% (S) 4.6 pp (S) 1,613,810 (S) 5.4% (S) 1,319,175 (S) 4.4% (S) 2.4 pp (S) The 1972 Italian general election was held in Italy on 7 May 1972. The Christian Democracy (DC) remained stable with around 38% of the votes, as did the Communist Party (PCI) which obtained the same 27% it had in 1968. The Socialist Party (PSI) continued in its decline, reducing to less than 10%. The largest increase in vote share was that of the post-fascist Italian Social Movement, which nearly doubled its votes from 4.5% to about 9%, after its leader Giorgio Almirante launched the formula of the National Right, proposing his party as the sole group of the Italian right wing. After a disappointing result of less than 2%, against the 4.5% of 1968, the Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity was disbanded; a majority of its members joined the PCI.

Electoral system

The electoral system for the Chamber of Deputies was pure party-list proportional representation. Italian provinces were grouped into 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 were 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 automatically elected, a goal which could be reached only by the German minorities in South Tirol. All remaining 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.

Historical background

The period of the late 1960s–1970s came to be known as the Opposti Estremismi, (from left-wing and right-wing extremists riots), later renamed anni di piombo ("years of lead") because of a wave of bombings and shootings — the first victim of this period was Antonio Annarumma, a policeman, killed on 12 November 1969 in Milan during a left-wing demonstration.

In December, four bombings struck the Monument of Vittorio Emanuele II in Rome (Altare della Patria), the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, and in Milan the Banca Commerciale and the Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura. The latter bombing, known as the Piazza Fontana bombing of 12 December 1969, killed 17 and injured 88.

Communist Secretary Luigi Longo suffered a stroke in late 1968; although partially recovering in the following months, from February 1969 he was assisted in most decisions by Enrico Berlinguer acting as cive-secretary. Longo resigned the position of party secretary in 1972, supporting the choice of Berlinguer as his successor.

Berlinguer's unexpected stance made waves: he gave the strongest speech by a major Communist leader ever heard in Moscow. He refused to "excommunicate" the Chinese communists, and directly told Leonid Brezhnev that the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact countries (which he termed the "tragedy in Prague") had made clear the considerable differences within the Communist movement on fundamental questions such as national sovereignty, socialist democracy, and the freedom of culture.

Arturo Michelini, leader of the Italian Social Movement, died in 1969, and the party's first and charismatic leader Giorgio Almirante regained control. He attempted to revitalise the party by pursuing an aggressive policy against left-wing student uprisings; the 1968 student movement had been devastating for the party's youth organisation. Following Michelini's failed approach of inserimento, Almirante introduced a double strategy of hard anti-systemic discourse combined with the creation of a broader "National Right" (Destra Nazionale) coalition.

Parties and leaders

Party	Leader	Seats in 1968	C
Christian Democracy (Italy)}}"	Christian Democracy (DC)	Christian democracy	Arnaldo Forlani
Italian Communist Party}}"	Italian Communist Party (PCI)	Communism	Enrico Berlinguer
Italian Socialist Party}}"	Italian Socialist Party (PSI)	Democratic socialism	Francesco De Martino
Italian Liberal Party}}"	Italian Liberal Party (PLI)	Conservative liberalism	Giovanni Malagodi
Italian Social Movement}}"	Italian Social Movement (MSI)	Neo-fascism	Giorgio Almirante
Italian Democratic Socialist Party}}"	Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI)	Social democracy	Mauro Ferri
Italian Republican Party}}"	Italian Republican Party (PRI)	Republicanism	Ugo La Malfa

Results

Mathematically, the election seemed to give the same results of four years before, the three major parties receiving quite the same preferences. However, the success of the operation of the National Right by MSI, gave a golden share to the PSI, because the Christian Democrats had no more possibilities to look at their right to build a democratic government, the alliance with the Socialists becoming quite obliged. Incumbent Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti tried to continue his centrist strategy, but his attempt only lasted a year. Former Premier Mariano Rumor so returned at the head of the government with his traditional centre-left alliance between DC, PSI, PSDI and PRI, but he was abandoned by the Republicans after eight months. He continued with a new squad, but he couldn't withstand the shocks deriving by the divorce referendum of 1974. After the consequent great controversies between Catholics and secularists, former Premier Aldo Moro persuaded the Socialists to accept a minority government composed only of the Christian Democrats and the Republicans. However, new problem arose from the regional elections of 1975, which marked a great success of the left, which consequently called for new national elections. When the Republicans too left Moro in 1976, no possibilities of a new government remained, and an early general election was found necessary.

Chamber of Deputies

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/−
Christian Democracy (Italy)}}"		Christian Democracy (DC)	12,912,466	38.66	266
Italian Communist Party}}"		Italian Communist Party (PCI)	9,068,961	27.15	179
Italian Socialist Party}}"		Italian Socialist Party (PSI)	3,208,497	9.61	61
Italian Social Movement}}"		Italian Social Movement (MSI)	2,894,722	8.67	56
Italian Democratic Socialist Party}}"		Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI)	1,718,142	5.14	29
Italian Liberal Party}}"		Italian Liberal Party (PLI)	1,300,439	3.89	20
Italian Republican Party}}"		Italian Republican Party (PRI)	954,357	2.86	15
Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity}}"		Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity (PSIUP)	648,591	1.94	0
	The Manifesto (IM)	224,313	0.67	0
South Tyrolean People's Party}}"		South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)	153,674	0.46	3
	Workers' Political Movement (MPL)	120,251	0.36	0
	Italian (Marxist–Leninist) Communist Party (PCM–LI)	86,038	0.26	0
Valdostan Union}}"		DC – UV – RV – PSDI	34,083	0.10	1
Other}}"		Others	79,014	0.26	0
Invalid/blank votes	1,122,139	–	–	–
Total	34,525,687	100	630	±0
Registered voters/turnout	37,049,351	93.19	–	–
Source: [Ministry of the Interior](http://elezionistorico.interno.it/index.php?tpel=C&dtel=07/05/1972&tpa=I&tpe=A&lev0=0&levsut0=0&es0=S&ms=S)

Results by constituency

Constituency	Total
seats	Seats won	DC	PCI	PSI	MSI	PSDI	PLI	PRI	Others	Christian Democracy (Italy)}};"	Italian Communist Party}};"	Italian Socialist Party}};"	Italian Social Movement}};;"	Italian Democratic Socialist Party}};"	Italian Liberal Party}};;"	Italian Republican Party}};;"	Others}};;"	Turin	34	Cuneo	14	Genoa	22	Milan	45	Como	17	Brescia	20	Mantua	8	Trentino	10	Verona	28	Venice	18	Udine	14	Bologna	27	Parma	20	Florence	16	Pisa	16	Siena	9	Ancona	17	Perugia	11	Rome	48	L'Aquila	15	Campobasso	4	Naples	38	Benevento	23	Bari	24	Lecce	18	Potenza	8	Catanzaro	24	Catania	30	Palermo	30	Cagliari	17	Aosta Valley	1	Trieste	4	Total	630	266	179	61	56	29	20	15	4
12	10	4	2	2	3	1
7	3	2		1	1
8	7	3	1	1	1	1
16	13	6	3	2	3	2
9	3	2	1	1	1
12	3	2	1	1	1
4	3	1
5	1	1					3
17	5	2	1	1	1	1
9	4	2	1	1	1
7	3	2	1	1
7	12	2	1	2	1	2
6	9	2	1	1	1
5	8	1	1	1
6	6	1	1	1		1
3	5	1
7	6	1	1	1		1
4	5	1	1
17	13	4	7	3	2	2
8	4	1	1	1
3	1
14	10	3	7	2	1	1
11	4	2	3	1	1	1
10	7	3	3	1
9	5	2	2
5	2	1
10	7	3	3	1
12	7	2	6	1	1	1
13	7	3	4	1	1	1
8	5	1	2	1
							1
2	1		1

Senate of the Republic

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/−
Christian Democracy (Italy)}}"		Christian Democracy (DC)	11,465,529	38.07	135
Italian Communist Party}}"		Italian Communist Party – PSIUP (PCI–PSIUP)	8,312,828	27.60	91
Italian Socialist Party}}"		Italian Socialist Party (PSI)	3,225,707	10.71	33
Italian Social Movement}}"		Italian Social Movement (MSI)	2,766,986	9.19	26
Italian Democratic Socialist Party}}"		Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI)	1,613,810	5.36	11
Italian Liberal Party}}"		Italian Liberal Party (PLI)	1,319,175	4.38	8
Italian Republican Party}}"		Italian Republican Party (PRI)	918,440	3.05	5
Italian Communist Party}}"		PCI – PSIUP – PSd'Az	189,534	0.63	3
South Tyrolean People's Party}}"		SVP – PPTT	113,452	0.38	2
Italian Communist Party}}"		PCI – PSIUP – PSI	41,833	0.14	0
Italian Democratic Socialist Party}}"		PSDI – PRI	31,953	0.11	0
Valdostan Union}}"		DC – UV – RV – PSDI	28,735	0.10	1
	Tyrol	31,114	0.10	0
Other}}"		Others	56,961	0.19	0
Invalid/blank votes	2,243,869	–	–	–
Total	31,486,399	100	315	±0
Registered voters/turnout	33,923,895	92.7	–	–
Source: [Ministry of the Interior](http://elezionistorico.interno.it/index.php?tpel=S&dtel=07/05/1972&tpa=I&tpe=A&lev0=0&levsut0=0&es0=S&ms=S)

Results by constituency

Constituency	Total
seats	Seats won	DC	PCI–PSIUP	PSI	MSI	PSDI	PLI	PRI	Others	Christian Democracy (Italy)}};"	Italian Communist Party}};"	Italian Socialist Party}};"	Italian Social Movement}};"	Italian Democratic Socialist Party}};;"	Italian Liberal Party}};;"	Italian Republican Party}};;"	Others}};;"	Piedmont	24	Aosta Valley	1	Lombardy	45	Trentino-Alto Adige	7	Veneto	23	Friuli-Venezia Giulia	7	Liguria	11	Emilia-Romagna	22	Tuscany	20	Umbria	7	Marche	8	Lazio	24	Abruzzo	7	Molise	2	Campania	29	Apulia	21	Basilicata	7	Calabria	12	Sicily	29	Sardinia	9	Total	315	135	91	33	26	11	8	5	6
9	7	3	1	2	2
							1
20	12	6	2	2	2	1
5							2
14	4	2	1	1	1
4	2	1
5	5	1
6	11	2	1	1		1
7	9	2	1	1
3	3	1
4	3	1
8	7	2	4	1	1	1
4	2	1
2
11	7	3	5	1	1	1
9	6	2	3	1
4	2	1
5	4	1	2
11	7	3	5	1	1	1
4		1	1				3

Maps

Seat distribution by constituency for the Chamber of Deputies (left) and Senate (right).}}}}

References

[[Dieter Nohlen]] & Philip Stöver (2010), ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p. 1048 {{ISBN. 978-3-8329-5609-7
Gallego, 1999, pp. 7–8.

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