1921 Italian general election

15 May 1921
All 535 seats in the Chamber of Deputies 268 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Giovanni Bacci Don Luigi Sturzo Giovanni Giolitti Party PSI PPI National Bloc Seats won 123 108 105 Seat change 33 8 New Popular vote 1,631,435 1,347,305 1,260,007 Percentage 24.69% 20.39% 19.07% Swing 7.59pp 0.14pp New
PSI      PPI      BN      PLD      PLI      DS      PDR      SeT
Prime Minister before election Giovanni Giolitti PLI Elected Prime Minister Ivanoe Bonomi Reformist Socialist Party

General elections were held in Italy on 15 May 1921.^[1] It was the first election in which the recently acquired regions of Trentino-Alto Adige, Venezia Giulia, Zara and Lagosta island elected deputies, many of whom were from the Germanic and South Slavic ethnic groups.^[2][3]

Background

From 1919 to 1920, Italy was shocked by a period of intense social conflict following the First World War known as the Biennio Rosso (Red Biennium).^[4] The revolutionary period was followed by the violent reaction of the Fascist Blackshirt militia and eventually by the March on Rome of Benito Mussolini in 1922.

The Biennio Rosso took place in a context of economic crisis at the end of the war, with high unemployment and political instability. It was characterized by mass strikes, worker manifestations as well as self-management experiments through land and factories occupations.^[4] In Turin and Milan, workers councils were formed and many factory occupations took place under the leadership of anarcho-syndicalists. The agitations also extended to the agricultural areas of the Po Valley and were accompanied by peasant strikes, rural unrests and guerrilla conflicts between left-wing and right-wing militias.

In the general election of 1921, the Liberal governing coalition, strengthened by the joining of Fascist candidates in the National Bloc (33 of whom were elected deputies), came short of a majority. The Italian Socialist Party, weakened by the split of the Communist Party of Italy, lost many votes and seats, while the Italian People's Party was steady around 20%. The Socialists were stronger in Lombardy (41.9%), than in their historical strongholds of Piedmont (28.6%), Emilia-Romagna (33.4%) and Tuscany (31.0%), due to the presence of the Communists (11.9, 5.2 and 10.5%), while the Populars were confirmed the largest party of Veneto (36.5%) and the Liberal parties in most Southern regions.^[5]

Parties and leaders

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Italian Socialist Party	1,631,435	24.69	123	−33
	Italian People's Party	1,347,305	20.39	108	+8
	National Bloc	1,260,007	19.07	105	New
	Democratic Liberal Party	684,855	10.36	68	−28
	Italian Liberal Party	470,605	7.12	43	+2
	Social Democracy	309,191	4.68	29	−31
	Italian Communist Party	304,719	4.61	15	New
	Italian Republican Party	124,924	1.89	6	−3
	Reformist Democratic Party	122,087	1.85	11	New
	Combatants' Party	113,839	1.72	10	−10
	Lists of Slavs and Germans	88,648	1.34	9	New
	Economic Party	53,382	0.81	5	−2
	Independent Socialists	37,892	0.57	1	±0
	Dissident Populars	29,703	0.45	0	New
	Fasci Italiani di Combattimento	29,549	0.45	2	New
Total		6,608,141	100.00	535	+27
Valid votes		6,608,141	98.61
Invalid/blank votes		93,355	1.39
Total votes		6,701,496	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		11,477,210	58.39
Source: National Institute of Statistics

References