Referendum Used In A Sentence

Referendum on abolishing the Italian monarchy

1946 Italian institutional plebiscite

2 June 1946

Republic or Monarchy?

Location

Italian republic

Results

Response	Votes	%
Republic	12,718,641	54.27%
Monarchy	10,718,502	45.73%
Valid votes	23,437,143	93.95%
Invalid or blank votes	1,509,735	6.05%
Full votes	24,946,878	100.00%
Registered voters/turnout	28,005,449	89.08%

Results by municipality and province

Republic

Monarchy

An institutional referendum (Italian: referendum istituzionale, or referendum sulla forma istituzionale dello Stato )^[1] ^[2] ^[iii] was held in Italy on 2 June 1946,^[iv] a fundamental event of Italian contemporary history.

Until 1946, Italian republic had been a kingdom ruled by the Business firm of Savoy, reigning royal firm of Italian republic since the national unification in 1861 and previously rulers of the Duchy of Savoy. However, in 1922 the rise of Benito Mussolini and the creation of the fascist regime, which eventually resulted in engaging Italia in Globe War II alongside Nazi Germany, considerably weakened the role of the monarchy.

Following the civil war and the Liberation of Italy from Axis troops in 1945, a popular plebiscite on the institutional form of the state was called and resulted in voters choosing the replacement of the monarchy with a democracy. A Constituent Associates was elected on the same twenty-four hours.^[4] Every bit with the simultaneous Constituent Assembly elections, the referendum was not held in the Julian March or South Tyrol, which were withal under occupation past Allied forces pending a concluding settlement of the status of the territories.

Background [edit]

Republic was not a new concept in Italian politics. The Kingdom of Sardinia had get a constitutional monarchy with the liberalizing reforms of King Charles Albert'south famous Albertine Statute in 1848. Suffrage, initially limited to select citizens, was gradually expanded. In 1912 Giovanni Giolitti's government introduced universal suffrage for male person citizens. In this period, the provisions of the Statute were often not observed. Instead, the elected Sleeping room and the Head of Regime took major roles. At the get-go of the 20th century, many observers thought that, by comparison to other countries, Italy was developing in the direction of a modern republic. Essential issues that needed to be resolved included the relationship of the Kingdom with the Roman Catholic Church.

A crisis arose in Italian lodge equally a result of the First World War, social inequalities, and the consistent tension between Marxist and other left-fly parties on i side and bourgeois liberals on the other. This crisis led to the advent of fascism, which destroyed freedoms and civil rights and established a dictatorship, breaking the continuity of the still fragile parliamentary tradition. The support of the ruling class and especially of the monarchy was crucial for the seizure of power by Benito Mussolini. After Mussolini's March on Rome in October 1922, King Victor Emmanuel Iii refused to sign a decree to declare a state of siege and instead asked Mussolini to form a new regime. The Rex's decision was inside his powers nether the Albertine Statute, but contrary to the parliamentary practices of the Italian liberal state, as the National Fascist Party had just a minor minority of the parliamentary deputies.

After the invasion of Italian republic by Centrolineal forces in 1943, the G Council of Fascism, with the co-functioning of the King, overthrew Mussolini from power and established a new government headed by Marshal Pietro Badoglio. Frg, worried past the new government's intention to negotiate a separate peace with the Allies, invaded and occupied Northern Italia. In the Gran Sasso raid, or Operation Oak, High german paratroopers rescued Mussolini from the hilltop hotel in which he had been imprisoned by the new government. Nether pressure from Hitler, Mussolini so established a boob state, the Italian Social Commonwealth to administer the German-occupied territory, leading to Italy being dissever in two, each with its own government. In the Due north, Mussolini declared that the monarchy had been overthrown and began to constitute a new republican state, with himself every bit Duce, but for practical purposes under the control of Karl Wolff and Rudolf Rahn. The Italian Social Democracy had its seat of government in the town of Salò, so is usually known as the Commonwealth of Salo.

Southern Italy, meanwhile, remained nominally under the control of the new legitimist authorities of Badoglio, standing to operate every bit the Kingdom of Italy. Rome descended into chaos, as fighting erupted betwixt Mussolini loyalists and supporters of the new government, as well every bit leftist opponents of fascism who emerged from hiding. The Rex and the government left Rome to seek the protection of the Allied forces that occupied the South. With half of the Italian peninsula occupied by the Germans and the rest by the Allies, a render to civil rights was suspended due to the complete disorder in the state. The pre-Fascist-era parties had been formally disbanded, and so far as they still existed their activity was clandestine and limited, with no form of contact with about of the population. Consequently, the future relationships between these parties and the balance of power were left to be decided at a later, quieter time. Withal, some political forces organized the Italian Resistance, which enjoyed potent popular support. Most all of the Resistance were anti-monarchists; nevertheless, a temporary alliance between them and the Badoglio regime was created by the decision of Joseph Stalin and Palmiro Togliatti, secretary of the Italian Communist Party, to postpone the problem of the state organization and focus all efforts on the fight against Hitler's puppet land in the North.

At the terminate of the war, Italy was a severely damaged country, with innumerable victims, a destroyed economic system, and a desperate full general condition. The defeat left the country deprived of the Empire information technology had fought for in the by ii decades and likewise occupied by foreign soldiers. For some years after 1945, internal politically motivated fighting continued.

The emergence of political forces to replace fascism could not occur until the internal conflict ended and elections could be held. Afterwards fighting had died downwardly, a few months were needed before attention could be given to institutional matters. The showtime of import question regarded the majestic family, blamed past many for the fascist regime, the war, and the defeat.

Republican traditions in Italy traditionally hark back to the Roman Commonwealth and the Medieval comunes, in which a broad spectrum of people took office in the business of government, merely remained largely theoretical, as in the conclusion of Machiavelli'south Il Principe. The struggle for a Republican Italy independent of foreign powers had been started by Giuseppe Mazzini in the 19th century. The movement Giustizia e Libertà, which continued the traditional Mazzinian ideology, was the second of import force during the Resistance. It posed the question of the form of the state as a primal precondition to developing any further agreements with the other parties. Giustizia e Libertà joined the Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale (National Liberation Commission, CLN). The various competing political factions agreed that a popular referendum would exist held to determine the hereafter institutional course of the Italian State.

Abdication [edit]

As the Allies advanced through the peninsula, it became apparent that Victor Emmanuel III was besides compromised by his before support of Mussolini to accept any further part. Accordingly, in April 1944 he turned over virtually of his powers to Crown Prince Umberto. When Rome was recaptured on 4 June 1944, Victor Emmanuel relinquished his remaining powers to Umberto and named him Lieutenant General of the Realm, making him the de facto regent.

Nonetheless, Victor Emmanuel retained the title of king until his abdication in May 1946. Umberto then formally ascended the throne equally King Umberto Two. Many historians accept noted that the purple house had an interest in the abdication, finding convenient to take a popular king "on stage" at that crucial moment. Umberto was more acceptable to the Italian people, in part thanks to his young and elegant life-style, and partially considering his figure presented a stark contrast to the one-time, rough Victor Emmanuel, seen as compromised with the fascist authorities himself. Umberto was relatively well received by the people from the moment of his enthronement, even if his wife Marie-José was kept at some distance because of her foreign origins. He was unremarkably called Re di Maggio ('the May Male monarch'), with reference to his brief dominion of but 34 days.

Referendum [edit]

On 25 June 1944, a decree by Crown Prince Umberto, issued in his capacity as Lieutenant General of the Realm, during Ivanoe Bonomi'due south time in office as Prime Minister, prescribed that a Constitutional Assembly would be organized after the state of war to draft a constitution and to cull an institutional grade for the Italian State.

The institutional debate was accelerated in the bound of 1946:

On 1 March, De Gasperi authorities gave its approval for the definitive scope of the referendum to exist Republic versus Monarchy;
On 12 March, the regime called the two June 1946 as the date of the referendum and of the ballot of the Elective Assembly;
On 18 March, the King issued the decrees together with a letter in which he anticipated his intention to abdicate in favour of his son Umberto (who was named Lieutenant Full general); the date for abdication being the anniversary of the Centrolineal forces' entry into Rome;
On 25 April, at the congress of Christian Republic, it was revealed that, after an internal investigation, the stance of the members of the party was 60% in favour of the democracy, 17% in favour of the monarchy, and 23% undecided;
On 9 May, Victor Emanuel III abdicated and left Italy from Naples past send, after a long coming together with Umberto. The Crown Prince then ascended the throne as Umberto II;
On 10 May, early on in the morning, Umberto II made his first public announcement every bit king. That afternoon, the government censured Admiral Raffaele de Courten, who had prepare aside a battle cruiser for Victor Emanuel's exile that was supposed to be used to bring home Italian prisoners. Information technology was also decided that the traditional institutional formula past which whatever decree or sentence was released in the name of "N, King of Italy, by God's grace and the nation's will", would be reduced to the simpler "North, King of Italy". Taking issue on the day Umberto became king, this act did not present a warm welcome for the new king, especially since the government had not given him accelerate notice of its intention. Even so, the king's main powers were "frozen" until the referendum.

The political campaign for the referendum was framed by incidents, especially in northern Italy, where monarchists were attacked by both republicans and postal service-fascists of the Italian Social Commonwealth. Post-obit a 2nd decree (decreto legge luogotenenziale 16 marzo 1946, n. 98), during the government of De Gasperi, a referendum was held on 2 June, which was later named a national holiday in laurels of the vote, and three June 1946. The question was simple: "Republic or Monarchy?"

Post-obit Italian constabulary, the results were checked by the Corte di Cassazione (the highest judicial Court at that time), as expected. A trouble arose when the Courtroom, itself divided betwixt monarchists and republicans, provisionally declared a republican victory on ten June, but postponed the concluding consequence to xviii June. To avoid huge dangers of political riots due to the Court'south delay, the government itself alleged a commonwealth and appointed De Gasperi every bit the provisional Caput of Land on 13 June. The legality of this action (according to the law in force at the time) is debated, as the Corte di Cassazione already declared a republican victory, at the same time stating that further data were to exist analyzed.

Results [edit]

Election paper used in the referendum in German-speaking areas.

Plebiscite results
Option	Votes	%
Democracy	12,718,641	54.27
Monarchy	10,718,502	45.73
Valid votes	23,437,143	93.95
Invalid or blank votes	1,509,735	6.05
Total votes	24,946,878	100.00
Registered voters and turnout	28,005,449	89.08
Source: Official Gazzette

By district [edit]

Results past district showing per centum of support for the republic

The conservative, rural Mezzogiorno (southern Italia) region voted solidly for the monarchy (63.viii%) while the more urbanised and industrialised Nord (northern Italy) voted as firmly for a republic (66.2%).^[5]

Commune		Provinces	Republic		Monarchy		Voters	Turnout
Commune		Provinces	Votes	%	Votes	%	Voters	Turnout
	Aosta	Aosta	28,516	63.47	16,411	36.53	50,946	84.00
	Turin	Turin • Novara • Vercelli	803,191	59.90	537,693	40.10	1,426,036	91.12
	Cuneo	Cuneo • Alessandria • Asti	412,666	51.93	381,977	48.07	867,945	89.75
	Genoa	Genoa • Imperia • La Spezia • Savona	633,821	69.05	284,116	thirty.95	960,214	85.62
	Milan	Milan • Pavia	1,152,832	68.01	542,141	31.99	1,776,444	90.31
	Como	Como • Sondrio • Varese	422,557	63.59	241,924	36.41	715,755	90.98
	Brescia	Brescia • Bergamo	404,719	53.84	346,995	46.sixteen	805,808	91.67
	Mantua	Mantua • Cremona	304,472	67.19	148,668	32.81	486,354	93.83
	Trento	Trento	192,123	85.00	33,903	fifteen.00	238,198	91.04
	Verona	Verona • Padua • Rovigo • Vicenza	648,137	56.24	504,405	43.76	1,258,804	92.22
	Venice	Venice • Treviso	403,424	61.52	252,346	38.48	712,475	91.49
	Udine	Udine • Belluno	339,858	63.07	199,019	36.93	592,463	88.51
	Bologna	Bologna • Ferrara • Forlì • Ravenna	880,463	80.46	213,861	nineteen.54	1,151,376	92.40
	Parma	Parma • Modena • Piacenza • Reggio Emilia	646,214	72.78	241,663	27.22	955,660	92.58
	Florence	Florence • Pistoia	487,039	71.58	193,414	28.42	723,028	92.08
	Pisa	Pisa • Livorno • Lucca • Massa-Carrara	456,005	70.12	194,299	29.88	703,016	89.99
	Siena	Siena • Arezzo • Grosseto	338,039	73.84	119,779	26.16	487,485	92.72
	Ancona	Ancona • Ascoli Piceno • Macerata • Pesaro	499,566	lxx.12	212,925	29.88	759,011	91.65
	Perugia	Perugia • Terni • Rieti	336,641	66.70	168,103	33.30	538,136	xc.26
	Rome	Rome • Frosinone • Latina • Viterbo	711,260	48.99	740,546	51.01	1,510,656	84.07
	L'Aquila	L'Aquila • Chieti • Pescara • Teramo	286,291	46.78	325,701	53.22	648,932	87.61
	Benevento	Benevento • Campobasso	103,900	xxx.06	241,768	69.94	369,616	88.82
	Naples	Naples • Caserta	241,973	21.12	903,651	78.88	1,207,906	84.77
	Salerno	Salerno • Avellino	153,978	27.09	414,521	72.91	607,530	88.05
	Bari	Bari • Foggia	320,405	38.51	511,596	61.49	865,951	90.15
	Lecce	Lecce • Brindisi • Taranto	147,346	24.seventy	449,253	75.xxx	630,987	90.04
	Potenza	Potenza • Matera	108,289	40.61	158,345	59.39	286,575	88.lxx
	Catanzaro	Catanzaro • Cosenza • Reggio Calabria	338,959	39.72	514,344	60.28	900,635	85.56
	Catania	Catania • Enna • Messina • Ragusa • Syracuse	329,874	31.76	708,874	68.24	i,107,524	85.28
	Palermo	Palermo • Agrigento • Caltanissetta • Trapani	379,871	38.98	594,686	61.02	1,032,102	85.77
	Cagliari	Cagliari • Nuoro • Sassari	206,192	39.07	321,555	60.93	569,574	85.91

	Italy		12,718,641	54.27	10,718,502	45.73	24,946,878	89.08
Source: Ministry of the Interior

By most populated city [edit]

Urban center		Republic		Monarchy		Voters	Turnout
Urban center		Votes	%	Votes	%	Voters	Turnout
	Turin	252,001	61.41	158,138	38.59	426,563	87.44
	Milan	487,125	67.77	231,711	32.23	737,440	85.65
	Genoa	294,254	73.65	105,291	26.35	410,152	81.97
	Venice	101,084	62.27	61,245	37.73	171,836	xc.49
	Bologna	137,093	67.72	65,359	32.28	209,776	90.49
	Florence	148,763	63.43	85,753	36.57	242,750	88.78
	Rome	353,715	46.17	412,439	53.83	783,865	80.80
	Naples	87,448	twenty.06	348,420	79.94	451,463	eighty.79

Backwash [edit]

The republic was formally proclaimed on 6 June 1946, ending Rex Umberto II's brief 34-solar day reign as male monarch. Umberto at first refused to take what he called "the outrageous illegality" of the plebiscite, and took his deposition badly.^[5] In his last statement as king, Umberto refused to accept the commonwealth, proverb he was the victim of a coup d'état by his ministers and the referendum had been rigged against him.^[5] ^[half-dozen] In response, Alcide De Gasperi, who became Acting President, replied in a printing argument:

"We must strive to sympathise the tragedy of someone who, after inheriting a military defeat and a disastrous complicity with dictatorship, tried difficult in recent months to work with patience and good volition towards a better futurity. Just this terminal human activity of the one thousand-yr old House of Savoy must be seen equally part of our national catastrophe; information technology is an expiation, an expiation forced upon all of us, fifty-fifty those who have not shared straight in the guilt of the dynasty".^[5]

Some monarchists advocated using forcefulness to prevent a republic from being proclaimed, fifty-fifty at the risk of a civil war, simply Mack Smith wrote that: "Common sense and patriotism saved Umberto from accepting such counsel".^[7] Umberto rejected the communication that he should go to Naples and proclaim a rival government, with the intention of starting a civil war in which the Regular army would presumably side with the House of Savoy, under the grounds that "My house united Italia. Information technology will non divide information technology".^[8] The monarchy of the Business firm of Savoy formally ended on 12 June 1946, and Umberto left the country. Prime Minister Alcide de Gasperi assumed office as Italian republic's interim Caput of State. At most 15:00 on thirteen June, Umberto left the Quirinal Palace for the last time with the servants all assembled in the courtyard to run across him off; many were in tears.^[eight] At the Ciampino Airport in Rome, equally Umberto boarded the aeroplane that was to take him to Lisbon, a Carabiniere grabbed him past the hand and shaking it in tears said "Your Majesty, we will never forget you!"^[8]

References [edit]

^ "Dipartimento per gli Affari Interni east Territoriali". elezionistorico.interno.gov.it.
^ "Il referendum istituzionale east la scelta repubblicana - Istituto Luigi Sturzo". Archived from the original on five March 2018. Retrieved eight December 2016.
^ "Savoia - Nuovi Dizionari Online Simone - Dizionario Storico del Diritto Italiano ed Europeo Indice H". www.simone.it.
^ ^a ^b Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A information handbook, p1047 ISBN 978-three-8329-5609-vii
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Denis Mack Smith, Italy and Its Monarchy, New Haven: Yale University Printing p.340.
^ Kogan, Norman A Political History of Postwar Italian republic, London: Mantle Mall Press, 1966 p.38
^ Denis Mack Smith, Italy and Its Monarchy, New Haven: Yale University Printing p.339
^ ^a ^b ^c Di Renzo, Anthony (xiv May 2014). "Re di Maggio: Pasquino forgives King Umberto II". L'Italo-Americano. Archived from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 1 Feb 2019.

External links [edit]

Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 134, 20 June 1946