The Sicilian Elections in Italy

• Published date: 01 March 1956
• Date: 01 March 1956
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295600900108
• Subject Matter: Articles

77

THE

SICILIAN

ELECTIONS

IN

ITALY*

GERARD

J.

MANGONE

Swarthmore

College

N

JUNE

5

of

last

year,

2,322,616

Italian

men

and

women

went

to

the

polls

in

Sicily

to

elect

the

Third

Regional

Assembly.

The

―

electoral

campaign

and

the

results,

which

involved

almost

one-tenth

of

the

total

Italian

electorate,

were

closely

attended

by

all

party

leaders,

for

the

Sicilian

elections,

although

colored

by

local

traditions

and

local

issues,

were

the

first

large-scale

indication

of

the

Italian

political

mood

since

the

national

elections

of

June,

1953.

Hard

on

the

heels

of

the

Sicilian

election

the

government

of

Mario

Scelba

at

Rome

fell.

For

many

months

dissatisfaction

with

the

coalition

government

of

the

Christian

Democratic

party

and

its

three

(later

two)

minor

party

allies

had

been

voiced,

while

rumors

of

an

&dquo;opening

to

the

left&dquo;

with

the

support

of

Pietro

Nenni’s

Socialist

party

increased.

At

the

time

of

the

writing

of

this

paper

Antonio

Segni

had

just

succeeded

in

patch-

ing

up

differences

within

the

Christian

Democratic

party

and

placating

the

demands

of

the

allied

Democratic

Socialist

and

Liberal

parties,

while

the

Republicans

agreed

to

stand

by

loyally,

to

form

a

new

Italian

government.

Is

a

fundamental

realignment

of

Italian

politics

in

the

offing?

Will

Italian

socialism,

baffled,

divided,

and

submerged

in

the

past,

finally

free

itself

from

the

Communist

party

in

the

present?

Can

the

big,

unwieldy

Christian

Democratic

party

continue

to

hold

together

all

the

disparate

ele-

ments

which

contribute

to

its

strength,

keep

its

minor

party

allies

in

line,

and

flirt

with

the

Socialists?

This

paper

does

not

propose

to

answer

these

larger

questions,

but

will

examine

the

Sicilian

elections

comparatively

to

shed

some

light

upon

Italian

politics

in

general.

By

indicating

concretely

what

has

been

happen-

ing

in

one

important

region

of

Italy

it

may

point

to

the

trend

of

national

political

development.

The

island

of

Sicily,

only

eighty-five

miles

from

the

shore

of

Africa,

has

had

a

unique

succession

of

rulers

-

Greeks,

Carthaginians,

Romans,

Byzan-

tines,

Arabs,

Normans,

Swabians,

Angevins,

Spaniards,

and

Bourbons -

before

coming

under

a

national

Italian

government

whose

vigor

and

interest

lay

in

the

north

rather

than

the

south

of

the

country.

While

Sicily

has

&dquo; Work on

this

article

was

done

while

living

for

eight

months

in

Sicily

as

a

Fulbright

research

scholar.

I

am

especially

grateful

to

Dr.

Giovanni

Schepis,

Chief

of

the

Electoral

Services

Division

in

the

Ministry

of

the

Interior,

the

Hon.

Salvatore

Cimino

of

the

Sicilian

Regional

Assembly,

Dr.

Elio

Caranti

of

the

University

of

Rome,

and

Dr.

Cesare

Castellano

of

the

University

of

Palermo

for

counsel

and

aid.