General elections were held in

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

on 12 December 1926 to elect the eighth term of the

Grand and General Council The Grand and General Council ( it, Consiglio Grande e Generale) is the parliament of San Marino. The council has 60 members elected for a five-year term. History From the fifth century San Marino was ruled by an assembly composed by all t ...

. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1678 It was a

sham election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

, all opposition being prevented to participate by internal and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

threats. After it had taken over the country in April 1923, the

Sammarinese Fascist Party The Sammarinese Fascist Party ( it, Partito Fascista Sammarinese) or PFS was a fascist political party that ruled San Marino from 1923 to 1943. History The party was founded on 10 August 1922 and led by Giuliano Gozi, a Sammarinese World War ...

was the only party to contest the elections, winning all 60 seats, while the official report spoke of a sole dissident ballot. A new electoral law guaranteed safe undisputed seats to the two incumbent Captains Regents.

Background

After the Patriotic Bloc victory in 1923, San Marino had effectively become a puppet of Fascist Italy. Benito Mussolini did not waste time to show his industriousness with propaganda goals, beginning the construction of a

Rimini Rimini ( , ; rgn, Rémin; la, Ariminum) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient ''Ariminu ...

railway which would become the visible symbol of his leadership over the small country.

Electoral system

The new electoral law of 11 November 1926, abolished

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stan ...

to restore householders' ancient rights, established a copy of the

Acerbo law The Acerbo Law was an Italian electoral law proposed by Baron Giacomo Acerbo and passed by the Italian Parliament in November 1923. The purpose of it was to give Mussolini's fascist party a majority of deputies. The law was used only in the 19 ...

, and extended the Council term to six years. More, even if this bloc voting system theorically allowed a small delegation of opposition candidates,Grand and General Council database (it.)
/ref> Italian menaces prevented any other list outside the

, which ran undisputed the

snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Generally, a snap election in a parliamentary system (the dissolution of parliament) is called to capitalize on an unusual electoral opportunity or to ...

that was immediately called. San Marino consequently became a

one-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...

. Voters had to be citizens of San Marino, male, 24 years old and meet at least one of the following requirements: * the head of the family, * a graduate, * belong to the militia, * have an annual income above 55 lire.

Results

References

{{Sammarinese elections

General elections in San Marino

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

One-party elections

Background

Electoral system

Results

See also

References