Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

elected its first delegation to the

Italian Senate The Senate of the Republic ( it, Senato della Repubblica), or simply the Senate ( it, Senato), is the upper house of the bicameral Italian Parliament (the other being the Chamber of Deputies). The two houses together form a perfect bicameral sy ...

on April 18, 1948. This election was a part of national Italian general election of 1948 even if, according to the newly established

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, ...

, every senatorial challenge in each

Region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

is a single and independent race. The election was won by the centrist

Christian Democracy Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

, as it happened at national level.

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...

and

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...

were the sole provinces to oppose this result, giving a plurality to the Social-Communist alliance.

Background

Alcide De Gasperi Alcide Amedeo Francesco De Gasperi (; 3 April 1881 – 19 August 1954) was an Italian politician who founded the Christian Democracy party and served as prime minister of Italy in eight successive coalition governments from 1945 to 1953. De Gasp ...

had obtained very good results during quite all municipal elections in Lombardy in 1946. However, their

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

-aligned opponents looked at this region as one of their possible zones of success, considering the local strength of the Socialist Party before the Fascist era. Even if the Front obtained some seats in the

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...

south, De Gasperi obtained an

absolute majority A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority ru ...

at regional level, with some exceptional peaks in the

alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

north: Lombardy became the region with the highest number of constituencies where the landslide clausolaItalian Ministry of Interior was satisfied. The centre-left alliance between the

Italian Democratic Socialist Party The Italian Democratic Socialist Party (, PSDI), also known as Italian Social Democratic Party, was a minor social-democratic political party in Italy. The longest serving partner in government for Christian Democracy, the PSDI had been an im ...

and the

Italian Republican Party The Italian Republican Party ( it, Partito Repubblicano Italiano, PRI) is a liberal and social-liberal political party in Italy. Founded in 1895, the PRI is the oldest political party still active in Italy. The PRI has old roots and a long histo ...

obtained some seats in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, a city led by Democratic Socialist

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Antonio Greppi.

Electoral system

The electoral system introduced in 1948 for the newly elected Senate was a strange

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

which established a form of

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

into

FPTP In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

-like constituencies. A candidate needed a

landslide victory A landslide victory is an election result in which the victorious candidate or party wins by an overwhelming margin. The term became popular in the 1800s to describe a victory in which the opposition is "buried", similar to the way in which a geol ...

of more than 65% of votes to obtain a direct mandate. All constituencies where this result was not reached entered into an

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...

calculation based upon the

D'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highest- ...

to distribute the seats between the parties, and candidates with the best percentages of suffrages inside their

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

were elected.

Results

, - , - bgcolor="#E9E9E9" !rowspan="1" align="left" valign="top", Party !rowspan="1" align="center" valign="top", votes !rowspan="1" align="center" valign="top", votes (%) !rowspan="1" align="center" valign="top", seats , - !align="left" valign="top",

, valign="top", 1,854,032 , valign="top", 53.8 , valign="top", 18 , - !align="left" valign="top", Popular Democratic Front , valign="top", 1,164,769 , valign="top", 33.8 , valign="top", 10 , - !align="left" valign="top", Socialist Unity+

, valign="top", 364,642 , valign="top", 10.8 , valign="top", 3 , - !align="left" valign="top", Others , valign="top", 64,284 , valign="top", 1.9 , valign="top", - , - bgcolor="#E9E9E9" !rowspan="1" align="left" valign="top", Total parties !rowspan="1" align="right" valign="top", 3,447,727 !rowspan="1" align="right" valign="top", 100.0 !rowspan="1" align="right" valign="top", 31 Sources
Italian Ministry of the Interior
/small>

Constituencies

, - , - bgcolor="#E9E9E9" !align="left" valign="top", N° !align="center" valign="top", Constituency !align="center" valign="top", Elected !align="center" valign="top", Party !align="center" valign="top", Votes % !align="center" valign="top", Others , - , align="left", 1 , align="left",

Bergamo Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes Como ...

, align="left", Cristoforo Pezzini , align="left",

, align="left", 73.5% , align="left", , - , align="left", 2 , align="left",

Clusone Clusone (Bergamasque: ) is an Italian town and ''comune'' in the province of Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. Located in the Val Seriana, it received the honorary title of city on 15 May 1957 with a presidential decree which ratified a Napoleon's promise ...

, align="left", Pietro Bellora , align="left",

, align="left", 81.0% , align="left", , - , align="left", 3 , align="left",

Treviglio Treviglio (, Bergamasque: ) is a town and ''comune'' (i.e. municipality) in the province of Bergamo, in Lombardy, Northern Italy. It lies south of the province capital, in the lower territory called "Bassa Bergamasca". It's also part of the geog ...

, align="left",

Piero Mentasti Piero Mentasti (15 May 1897 – 24 September 1958) was a member of the Italian Christian Democracy, and was an Italian Senator from Lombardy. He did not seek re-election in 1953. 35 of his essays on liberalism are compiled in ''On Liberal Revolut ...

, align="left",

, align="left", 72.7% , align="left", , - , align="left", 4 , align="left",

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

, align="left",

Angelo Buizza Angelo Buizza (6 October 1885 - 18 January 1971) was a member of the Italian Christian Democracy, and was an Italian Senator from Lombardy. He retired in 1963. Political career Buizza won elective office in three consecutive campaigns between 1 ...

, align="left",

, align="left", 55.8% , align="left", , - , align="left", 5 , align="left", Breno , align="left", Angelo Cemmi , align="left",

, align="left", 68.6% , align="left", , - , align="left", 6 , align="left",

Chiari Chiari may refer to: * Chiari (surname) *Chiari, Lombardy, a commune in Italy * The Chiari Institute, a medical institution in Great Neck, New York *Battle of Chiari (1701), part of the War of the Spanish Succession See also * Arnold–Chiari malf ...

, align="left", Albino Donati , align="left",

, align="left", 65.7% , align="left", , - , align="left", 7 , align="left",

Salò Salò (; la, Salodium) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Brescia in the region of Lombardy (northern Italy) on the banks of Lake Garda, on which it has the longest promenade. The city was the seat of government of the Italian Social R ...

, align="left", Francesco Zane , align="left",

, align="left", 64.2% , align="left", , - , align="left", 8 , align="left",

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco dialect, Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and ...

, align="left", Mariano Rosati , align="left",

, align="left", 60.1% , align="left", , - , align="left", 9 , align="left",

Lecco Lecco (, , ; lmo, label=Lecchese, Lècch ) is a city of 48,131 inhabitants in Lombardy, northern Italy, north of Milan. It lies at the end of the south-eastern branch of Lake Como (the branch is named ''Branch of Lecco'' / ''Ramo di Lecco''). ...

, align="left",

Enrico Falck Enrico Falck was an Italian entrepreneur, member of the board of directors of the Falck Industries. He joined the Italian Christian Democracy, and was an Italian Senator from Lombardy. Political career In 1934 Falck was named by king Vittori ...

, align="left",

, align="left", 55.8% , align="left", , - , align="left", 10 , align="left",

Cantù Cantù (; Brianzöö: ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Como, located at the center of the Brianza zone in Lombardy. It is the second largest city in Brianza. History The name could stem from that of the Canturigi, a population of I ...

, align="left", Lorenzo Spallino , align="left",

, align="left", 60.3% , align="left", , - , align="left", 11 , align="left",

Cremona Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' ( Po Valley). It is the capital of th ...

, align="left", Gaetano Ferragni , align="left", Popular Democratic Front (

PSI Psi, PSI or Ψ may refer to: Alphabetic letters * Psi (Greek) (Ψ, ψ), the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet * Psi (Cyrillic) (Ѱ, ѱ), letter of the early Cyrillic alphabet, adopted from Greek Arts and entertainment * "Psi" as an abbreviatio ...

) , align="left", 48.3% , align="left", , - , align="left", 12 , align="left",

Crema Crema or Cremas may refer to: Crema * Crema, Lombardy, a ''comune'' in the northern Italian province of Cremona * Crema (coffee), a thin layer of foam at the top of a cup of espresso * Crema (dairy product) Crema is the Spanish word for cream. I ...

, align="left", Ennio Zelioli , align="left",

, align="left", 52.3% , align="left", , - , align="left", 13 , align="left",

, align="left", Pietro Torelli , align="left", Popular Democratic Front (

) , align="left", 44.0% , align="left", , - , align="left", 14 , align="left",

Ostiglia Ostiglia ( Mantovano: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Mantua in the Italian region Lombardy, located about southeast of Milan and about southeast of Mantua. History In Roman times, ''Hostilia'' was a trade hub from Emilia t ...

, align="left", Clarenzo Menotti , align="left", Popular Democratic Front (

PCI PCI may refer to: Business and economics * Payment card industry, businesses associated with debit, credit, and other payment cards ** Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, a set of security requirements for credit card processors * Pro ...

) , align="left", 56.8% , align="left", , - , align="left", 15 , align="left",

1 , align="left", ''Merzagora's 2nd election , align="left", , align="left", ''57.9% , align="left", ''seat ceded to Samek Lodovici , - , align="left", 16 , align="left",

2 , align="left", Gianbattista Boeri , align="left", Socialist Unity+ Republican Party ( PRI) , align="left", 21.0% , align="left", Edoardo Origlia ( DC) 54.5% , - , align="left", 17 , align="left",

3 , align="left", Enrico Gonzales , align="left", Socialist Unity+ Republican Party ( PSDI) , align="left", 19.5% , align="left", , - , align="left", 18 , align="left",

4 , align="left", Giulio Bergmann , align="left", Socialist Unity+ Republican Party ( PRI) , align="left", 20.0% , align="left", , - , align="left", 19 , align="left",

5 , align="left", Piero Montagnani , align="left", Popular Democratic Front (

) , align="left", 42.7% , align="left", , - , align="left", 20 , align="left",

6 , align="left", Francesco Mariani , align="left", Popular Democratic Front (

) , align="left", 51.8% , align="left", , - , align="left", 21 , align="left",

Abbiategrasso Abbiategrasso, formerly written Abbiate Grasso. (local lmo, Biegrass ; lmo, label=Milanese, Biaa ), is a ''comune'' and town in the Metropolitan City of Milan, Lombardy, northern Italy, situated in the Po valley approximately from Milan and f ...

, align="left", E.Samek Lodovici

Antonio Banfi Antonio Banfi (Vimercate, 30 September 1886 – Milano, 22 July 1957) was an Italian philosopher and senator. He is also noted for founding the Italian philosophical school called critical rationalism. Although influenced by the Marburg neo- ...

, align="left",

Popular Democratic Front (

) , align="left", 51.4%
40.6% , align="left", , - , align="left", 22 , align="left",

Rho Rho (uppercase Ρ, lowercase ρ or ; el, ρο or el, ρω, label=none) is the 17th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 100. It is derived from Phoenician letter res . Its uppercase form uses the sa ...

, align="left", Carlo Perini , align="left",

, align="left", 53.6% , align="left", Amilcare Locatelli (

) 36.2% , - , align="left", 23 , align="left",

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

, align="left", Mario Longoni , align="left",

, align="left", 54.0% , align="left", , - , align="left", 24 , align="left",

Vimercate Vimercate (; lmo, label=Brianzöö, Vimercaa ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Monza and Brianza, Lombardy, northern Italy. It is from Milan and from Monza. Its name (whose first finding dates back to the year 745) derives from t ...

, align="left",

Cesare Merzagora Cesare Merzagora (9 November 1898 – 1 May 1991) was an Italian politician from Milan. Biography Merzagora was born in Milan on November 9, 1898. Between 1947 and 1949 Merzagora would serve as Italy's Minister of Foreign Trade. He was Pres ...

, align="left",

( Indep.) , align="left", 60.2% , align="left", , - , align="left", 25 , align="left", Lodi , align="left", Giuseppe Alberganti , align="left", Popular Democratic Front (

) , align="left", 43.6% , align="left", Gianmaria Cornaggia ( DC) 47.7% , - , align="left", 26 , align="left",

, align="left", Italo Sinforiani , align="left", Popular Democratic Front ( Gds) , align="left", 43.0% , align="left", , - , align="left", 27 , align="left",

Voghera The Castle of Voghera in a 19th-century etching. Voghera ( Vogherese dialect of Emilian: ''Vughera''; Latin: ''Forum Iulii Iriensium'') is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Pavia in the Italian region Lombardy. The population was 39,374 ...

, align="left", Cesare Gavina , align="left", Popular Democratic Front (

) , align="left", 38.7% , align="left", , - , align="left", 28 , align="left",

Vigevano Vigevano (; lmo, label=Western Lombard, Avgevan) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Pavia, Lombardy in northern Italy. A historic art town, it is also renowned for shoemaking and is one of the main centres of Lomellina, a rice-growing ...

, align="left", Giuseppe Cortese , align="left", Popular Democratic Front (

) , align="left", 50.7% , align="left", , - , align="left", 29 , align="left",

Sondrio Sondrio (; lmo, Sùndri; rm, Sunder; archaic german: Sünders or ; la, Sundrium) is an Italian city and ''comune'' and Provincial Capital located in the heart of the Valtellina. , Sondrio counts approximately 21,876 inhabitants (2015) and it is ...

, align="left",

Ezio Vanoni Ezio Vanoni (3 August 1903 – 16 February 1956) was an Italian economist and politician who served as Minister of Finance from May 1948 to January 1954 and Minister Budget from January 1954 until February 1956. Vanoni is widely considered one ...

, align="left",

, align="left", 67.1% , align="left", , - , align="left", 30 , align="left",

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

, align="left", Antonio Bareggi , align="left",

, align="left", 55.7% , align="left", , - , align="left", 31 , align="left",

Busto Arsizio Busto Arsizio (; lmo, label= Bustocco, Büsti Grandi) is an Italian city and ''comune'' in the south-easternmost part of the Province of Varese, in the region of Lombardy, in Northern Italy, north of Milan. The economy of Busto Arsizio is main ...

, align="left", Natale Santero , align="left",

, align="left", 53.8% , align="left", *Senators with a direct mandate have bold percentages. Please remember that the

electoral system An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and Referendum, referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political ...

was, in the other cases, a form of

and not a

race: so candidates winning with a simple plurality could have (and usually had) a candidate (always a Christian democrat) with more votes in their constituency.

Substitutions

* Amilcare Locatelli for

(36.2%) replaced Pietro Torelli in 1948. Reason:

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

. * Edoardo Origlia for Milan 2 (54.5%) replaced Antonio Bareggi in 1950. Reason:

. * Gianmaria Cornaggia for Lodi (47.7%) replaced Carlo Perini in 1952. Reason:

Notes

{{Elections in Lombardy Elections in Lombardy 1948 elections in Italy