1963 Italian general election

1963 Italian general election
← 1958 28 April 1963 1968 →
All 630 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
316 seats needed for a majority
All 315 elective seats in the Senate
161 seats needed for a majority[a]
Registered34,199,184 (C) · 31,019,23 (S)
Turnout31,766,009 (C) · 92.9% (Decrease0.9 pp)
28,872,052 (S) · 93.1% (Decrease0.9 pp)
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Aldo Moro 1968.jpg
Palmiro Togliatti Official (cropped).jpg
Pietro Nenni 1963.jpg
Leader Aldo Moro Palmiro Togliatti Pietro Nenni
Party DC PCI PSI
Leader since 16 March 1959 15 May 1943[b] 16 May 1949[c]
Leader's seat Bari (C) Rome (S) Milan (C)
Seats won 260 (C) / 129 (S) 166 (C) / 84 (S) 87 (C) / 44 (S)
Seat change Decrease13 (C) / Increase6 (S) Increase26 (C) / Increase25 (S) Increase3 (C) / Increase9 (S)
Popular vote 11,773,182 (C)
10,017,975 (S) 		7,767,601 (C)
6,461,616 (S) 		4,255,836 (C)
3,849,440 (S)
Percentage 38.3% (C)
36.5% (S) 		25.3% (C)
23.5% (S) 		13.8% (C)
14.0% (S)
Swing Decrease4.1 pp (C)
Decrease4.7 pp (S) 		Increase2.6 pp (C)
Increase1.7 pp (S) 		Decrease0.4 pp (C)
Decrease0.1 pp (S)
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Giovanni Malagodi 1972.jpg
Giuseppe Saragat (cropped).jpg
Arturo Michelini (cropped).jpg
Leader Giovanni Malagodi Giuseppe Saragat Arturo Michelini
Party PLI PSDI MSI
Leader since 4 April 1954 11 April 1957[d] 10 October 1954
Leader's seat Milan (C) Turin (C) Rome (C)
Seats won 39 (C) / 18 (S) 33 (C) / 14 (S) 27 (C) / 14 (S)
Seat change Increase22 (C) / Increase14 (S) Increase11 (C) / Increase9 (S) Increase3 (C) / Increase6 (S)
Popular vote 2,144,270 (C)
2,043,323 (S) 		1,876,271 (C)
1,743,870 (S) 		1,570,282 (C)
1,458,917 (S)
Percentage 7.0% (C)
7.4% (S) 		6.1% (C)
6.4% (S) 		5.1% (C)
5.3% (S)
Swing Increase3.5 pp (C)
Increase3.5 pp (S) 		Increase1.5 pp (C)
Increase1.9 pp (S) 		Increase0.3 pp (C)
Increase0.9 pp (S)
Prime Minister before election

Amintore Fanfani
DC

Prime Minister after the election

Giovanni Leone
DC

The 1963 Italian general election was held on Sunday April 28.[1] It was the first election with a fixed number of MPs to be elected, as decided by the second Constitutional Reform in February 1963.[2] It was also the first election which saw the Secretary of Christian Democracy to refuse the office of Prime Minister after the vote, at least for six months, preferring to provisionally maintain his more influent post at the head of the party: this fact confirmed the transformation of Italian political system into a particracy, the secretaries of the parties having become more powerful than the Parliament and the Government.[3]


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  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1048 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. ^ Constitutional Reform number 2 decided a fixed number of 630 member for the House, under the example of the British House of Commons during that period, and of 315 for the Senate, with a minimum of seven senators for each region excluding Aosta Valley and, later, Molise. This reform is still in force.
  3. ^ Italian electors effectively lost any chance to decide their Prime Minister until the majoritarian reform of 1993.