1897 Italian general election

General elections were held in Italy on 21 March 1897, with a second round of voting on 28 March.[1] The "Ministerial" left-wing bloc, led by Giovanni Giolitti remained the largest in Parliament, winning 327 of the 508 seats.[2]

1897 Italian general election

21–28 March 1897
All 508 seats to the Chamber of Deputies of the Kingdom of Italy
Leader Giovanni Giolitti Antonio Starabba di Rudinì Felice Cavallotti Party Historical Left Historical Right Historical Far Left Seats won 327 99 42 Seat change 7 5 5 Popular vote 799,517 242,090 103,043 Percentage 64.4% 19.5% 8.3% Swing 5.8% 2.1% 3.4%
Prime Minister before election Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudinì Historical Right Elected Prime Minister Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudinì Historical Right

Historical background

The humiliating defeat of the Italian army at Adwa in March 1896 in Ethiopia during First Italo-Ethiopian War, brought about Francesco Crispi's resignation after riots broke out in several Italian towns.[3][4]

The ensuing Antonio di Rudini cabinet lent itself to Cavallotti’s campaign, and at the end of 1897 the judicial authorities applied to the Chamber of Deputies for permission to prosecute Crispi for embezzlement. A parliamentary commission of inquiry discovered only that Crispi, on assuming office in 1893, had found the secret service coffers empty, and had borrowed money from a state bank to fund it, repaying it with the monthly installments granted in regular course by the treasury. The commission, considering this proceeding irregular, proposed, and the Chamber adopted, a vote of censure, but refused to authorize a prosecution.

The crisis consequent upon the disaster of Adowa enabled Rudinì to return to power as premier and minister of the interior in a cabinet formed by the veteran Conservative, General Ricotti. He signed the Treaty of Addis Ababa that formally ended the First Italo–Ethiopian War recognizing Ethiopia as an independent country.[5] He endangered relations with Great Britain by the unauthorized publication of confidential diplomatic correspondence in a Green-book on Abyssinian affairs.

Di Rudinì recognized the excessive brutality of the repression of the Fasci Siciliani under his predecessor Crispi. Many Fasci members were pardoned and released from jail.[6]

A new party participated to the election, the Italian Republican Party (PRI), led by Carlo Sforza. The PRI traces its origins from the time of Italian unification and, more specifically, to the democratic-republican wing represented by figures such as Giuseppe Mazzini, Carlo Cattaneo and Carlo Pisacane.

Parties and leaders

Party		Ideology	Leader
	Historical Left	Liberalism, Centrism	Giovanni Giolitti
	Historical Right	Conservatism, Monarchism	Antonio Starabba di Rudinì
	Historical Far Left	Republicanism, Radicalism	Felice Cavallotti
	Italian Republican Party	Republicanism, Radicalism	Giovanni Bovio
	Italian Socialist Party	Socialism, Revolutionary socialism	Filippo Turati

Results

← Summary of March 1897 Chamber of Deputies election results →

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/−
	Historical Left	799,517[lower-alpha 1]	64.4	327	−7
	Historical Right	242,090[lower-alpha 1]	19.5	99	−5
	Historical Far Left	103,043[lower-alpha 1]	8.3	42	−5
	Italian Republican Party	60,833[lower-alpha 1]	4.9	25	New
	Italian Socialist Party	37,245[lower-alpha 1]	3.0	15	±0
Invalid/blank votes		41,911	–	–	–
Total		1,241,486	100	508	±0
Registered voters/turnout		2,120,909	58.5	–	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

1. Estimate

Parliamentary seats Left   64.4% Right   19.5% Far-Left   8.3% PRI   4.9% PSI   3.0%

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1047 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Nohlen & Stöver, p1083
3. Vandervort, Wars of Imperial Conquest in Africa, 1830–1914, pp. 162-64
4. Italy’s African Fiasco, The New York Times, July 5, 1896
5. Harold Marcus, The Life and Times of Menelik II: Ethiopia 1844-1913 (Lawrenceville: Red Sea Press, 1995), pp. 174-177
6. Pardon for Italian Socialists, The New York Times, March 14, 1896