1924 Italian general election

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1924 Italian general election

← 1921 6 April 1924 1929 →
All 535 seats in the Chamber of Deputies 268 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Benito Mussolini Alcide De Gasperi Giacomo Matteotti Party National List PPI Unitary Socialist Party Seats won 374 39 24 Seat change New 69 New Popular vote 4,653,488 645,789 422,957 Percentage 64.94% 9.01% 5.90% Swing New 11.38pp New
Prime Minister before election Benito Mussolini National Fascist Party Elected Prime Minister Benito Mussolini National Fascist Party

General elections were held in Italy on 6 April 1924 to elect the members of the Chamber of Deputies.^[1] They were held two years after the March on Rome, in which Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party rose to power, and under the controversial Acerbo Law, which stated that the party with the largest share of the votes would automatically receive two-thirds of the seats in Parliament as long as they received over 25% of the vote.^[2]

Mussolini's

On 22 October 1922

While the march itself was composed of fewer than 30,000 men, the King feared a civil war as he did not consider strong enough previous government, and Fascism was no longer seen as a threat to the establishment. Mussolini was asked to form his cabinet on 29 October while some 25,000 Blackshirts were parading in Rome. Mussolini legally reached power in accordance with the Statuto Albertino, the Italian constitution. The March on Rome was not the conquest of power which Fascism later celebrated but rather the precipitating force behind a transfer of power within the framework of the constitution. This transition was made possible by the surrender of public authorities in the face of Fascist intimidation. Many business and financial leaders believed it would be possible to manipulate Mussolini, whose early speeches and policies emphasized free market and laissez-faire economics.^[7]

While Mussolini appointed an

On 31 December 1924 Blackshirt leaders met with Mussolini and gave him an ultimatum—crush the opposition or they would do so without him. Fearing a revolt by his own militants, he decided to drop all trappings of democracy.[10] On 3 January 1925, Mussolini made a truculent speech before the Chamber of Deputies in which he took responsibility for squadristi violence but did not mention the assassination of Matteotti.^[11] This speech usually is taken as the beginning of the Fascist dictatorship because it was followed by several laws restricting or canceling common democratic liberties, all rubber-stamped by a Fascist-controlled Parliament.

Electoral system

This was the first and only multi-party general election held under the terms of the Acerbo Law. The Acerbo Law had been adopted by Parliament in November 1923 and stated that the party gaining the largest share of the votes—provided they had gained at least 25 percent of the votes—gained two-thirds of the seats in parliament. The remaining third was shared amongst the other parties through proportional representation.^[12]

Parliamentary parties and leaders

Results

By region

References