The 1971 Italian presidential election was held in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
on 9–24 December 1971.
Only members of
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
and regional delegates were entitled to vote, most of these electors having been elected in the
1968 general election and in the
1970 regional elections. As
head of state
A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...
of the
Italian Republic
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, the President has a role of representation of national unity and guarantees that
Italian politics
The politics of Italy are conducted through a parliamentary republic with a multi-party system. Italy has been a democratic republic since 2 June 1946, when the monarchy was abolished by popular referendum and a constituent assembly was electe ...
comply with the
Italian Constitution
The Constitution of the Italian Republic ( it, Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana) was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 22 December 1947, with 453 votes in favour and 62 against. The text, which has since been amended sixteen times, ...
, in the framework of a
parliamentary system
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of th ...
.
On 24 December 1971 former
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
and
president of the Chamber of Deputies Giovanni Leone was elected
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
with 518 votes out of 1,008, the smallest majority ever obtained by an elected president. With twenty-three rounds of voting, this presidential election remains still today the longest presidential election in the Italian republican history.
Procedure
In accordance with the
Italian Constitution
The Constitution of the Italian Republic ( it, Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana) was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 22 December 1947, with 453 votes in favour and 62 against. The text, which has since been amended sixteen times, ...
, the election was held in the form of a secret ballot, with the senators and the deputies entitled to vote. The election was held in the
Palazzo Montecitorio
The Palazzo Montecitorio () is a palace in Rome and the seat of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Italian Parliament.
History
The palace's name derives from the slight hill on which it is built, which was claimed to be the ''Mon ...
, home of the
Chamber of Deputies, with the capacity of the building expanded for the purpose. The first three ballots required a two-thirds majority of the 1,008 voters in order to elect a president, or 673 votes. Starting from the fourth ballot, an absolute majority was required for candidates to be elected, or 505 votes. The presidential mandate lasts seven years.
The election was presided over by the
President of the Chamber of Deputies Sandro Pertini
Alessandro "Sandro" Pertini (; 25 September 1896 – 24 February 1990) was an Italian socialist politician who served as the president of Italy from 1978 to 1985.
Early life
Born in Stella ( Province of Savona) as the son of a wealthy landow ...
, who proceeded to the public counting of the votes, and by the
President of the Senate Amintore Fanfani.
Proposed nominees
*
Francesco De Martino
Francesco de Martino (31 May 1907 – 18 November 2002) was an Italian jurist, politician, lifetime senator (1991–2002) and former Vice President of the Council of Ministers. He was considered by many to be the conscience of the Italian Social ...
, former secretary of
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a Socialism, socialist and later Social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the l ...
, was the first proposal of the left-wing opposition parties;
*
Amintore Fanfani, one of the most important leaders of
Christian Democracy, was initially proposed by the
centre-left
Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The ...
government;
*
Giovanni Leone, whose nomination emerged only since the twenty-second round of voting;
*
Pietro Nenni
Pietro Sandro Nenni (; 9 February 1891 – 1 January 1980) was an Italian socialist politician, the national secretary of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) and senator for life since 1970. He was a recipient of the Lenin Peace Prize in 1951. He ...
, former
partisan and leader of the socialists, proposed by left-wing parties at penultimate round of voting.
Political background
The period from the late 1960 through the 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 1969, four bombings struck in Rome the
Monument of Vittorio Emanuele II (''Altare della Patria''), the ''
Banca Nazionale del Lavoro
Banca Nazionale del Lavoro S.p.A. (BNL) is an Italian bank headquartered in Rome. It is Italy's sixth largest bank and has been a subsidiary of BNP Paribas since 2006.
History
Founded in 1913 as Istituto Nazionale di Credito per la Cooperazione ...
'', and in Milan the ''
Banca Commerciale'' and the ''
Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura
The Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura or BNA, was an Italian bank that existed from 1921 to 2000.
History
Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura was established in Milan in 1921 by Count (who after his death was succeeded by his nephew Giovanni Aulet ...
''. The later bombing, known as the
Piazza Fontana bombing
The Piazza Fontana bombing ( it, Strage di Piazza Fontana) was a terrorist attack that occurred on 12 December 1969 when a bomb exploded at the headquarters of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura (the National Agricultural Bank) in Piazza Fonta ...
of 12 December 1969, killed 17 and injured 88. Social protests, in which the student movement was particularly active, shook Italy during the 1969 ''
autunno caldo
The Hot Autumn ( it, Autunno caldo) of 1969–70 is a term used for a series of large strikes in the factories and industrial centers of Northern Italy, in which workers demanded better pay and better conditions. During 1969 and 1970 there were ...
'' (Hot Autumn), leading to the
occupation
Occupation commonly refers to:
*Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment
*Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces
*Military occupation, th ...
of the
Fiat factory in Turin.
In December 1970, a neo-fascist coup, dubbed the ''
Golpe Borghese
The ''Golpe Borghese'' (English: Borghese Coup) was a failed Italian ''coup d'état'' allegedly planned for the night of 7 or 8 December 1970. It was named after Junio Valerio Borghese, wartime commander of the Decima Flottiglia MAS and a her ...
'', was planned by young far-right fanatics, elderly veterans of
Italian Social Republic, and supported by members of the ''
Corpo Forestale dello Stato
The State Forestry Corps (Italian: ''Corpo forestale dello Stato'' or ''CFS'') was a national police agency in Italy. It was established on 15 October 1822 by Charles Felix of Sardinia as Amministrazione forestale per la custodia e la vigilanza ...
'', along with right-aligned entrepreneurs and industrialists. The "Black Prince",
Junio Valerio Borghese
Junio Valerio Scipione Ghezzo Marcantonio Maria Borghese (6 June 1906 – 26 August 1974), nicknamed The Black Prince, was an Italian Navy commander during the regime of Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party and a prominent hard-line Fascist ...
, took part in it. The coup, called off at the last moment, was discovered by the newspaper ''
Paese Sera
Paese ( Venetian: ''Paexe'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Treviso in the Italian region Veneto, located about northwest of Venice and about west of Treviso. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 19,898 and an area of ...
'', and publicly exposed three months later.
In this extremely difficult context for republican institutions, on 9 December 1971
Italian Parliament
The Italian Parliament ( it, Parlamento italiano) is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1943), the transitio ...
convened to elect a new President. As a result of the
1968 general election, left-wing parties had now more representatives in the Parliament, while
Christian Democracy had shrunk its numbers, making it more difficult to elect the new President without the help of its
centre-left
Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The ...
allies.
After a long voting period which lasted almost two weeks, the Christian democrat
Giovanni Leone managed to be elected President with the votes of the
Christian Democracy and the neo-fascist
Italian Social Movement, facing the extreme opposition of the left-wing parties.
Results
Inauguration
Giovanni Leone officially sworn in as the new President of Italy on 29 December 1971.
Gallery
File:Parlamento Italiano Giuramento di Giovanni Leone.jpg, Leone taking the oath in front of the Parliament
File:Giuramento Leone.jpg, Leone arrives at the Quirinal Palace
The Quirinal Palace ( it, Palazzo del Quirinale ) is a historic building in Rome, Italy, one of the three current official residences of the president of the Italian Republic, together with Villa Rosebery in Naples and the Tenuta di Castelporzia ...
for the swearing in ceremony
File:Giuramento Leone 1971.jpg, Leone and Saragat during the swearing in ceremony
Notes
References
{{Italian presidential elections
Presidential elections in Italy
1971 elections in Italy