Democratic elections have been held in Naples, Italy, since the collapse of Benito Mussolini's fascist regime. Today, all residents of Naples who are at least 18 years old and hold an EU citizenship are eligible to vote for the mayor and the 48 members of the city council. They also vote for the president and the 30 or 40 members of the municipal council in which they reside.
Since 1993, Italian mayors are elected directly. In the cities with a population higher than 15,000, voters can choose for a candidate for mayor and/or for a party or civic list that is not necessarily linked to the same mayor-candidate (panachage or voto disgiunto). If no candidate receives an absolute majority, the top two candidates go to a runoff election (ballottaggio) after two weeks. The city council and municipal council elections are based on a proportional system with preferences: for each list, the candidates with the most preferences are elected proportionally to the seats assigned to the list, with the lists supporting the elected mayor being granted around 60% of the total seats to guarantee stability.
Elections are normally scheduled every five years, usually between 15 April and 15 June. The last election was held in June 2016.
Italian Republic (since 1946) City council election, 1946 The first democratic election after the fall of fascism took place on 10 November 1946.
After the Liberation of Naples in August 1943, Independent lawyer Giuseppe Solimene had been appointed as Provisional Mayor by the National Liberation Committee under approval of the United Nations military government. Between 1943 and 1946 the office had been filled by politicians from centre-left minor parties such as the liberal-socialist Action Party and the social-democratic Labour Democratic Party.
When the authority of the Italian government was restored in 1946, local elections in the whole country were called. Proportional representation and the Westminster system were the principles chosen for the restoration of municipal democracy in Italy.
For the first time, the inhabitants of the city, including men and women, without distinction, could vote for their representatives in the city council. The conservative and right-wing parties, such as the Monarchist National Party and Common Man's Front, received the combined majority of the votes and extensive representation in the city council, while the leftist alliance Popular Democratic Bloc, an alliance between the Communists, Socialists and centre-left minor parties, received just the 31% of the votes. However, the turnout of the election remains noted as extremely low.
Parties Votes % Seats Popular Democratic Bloc 73,61731.225 Common Man's Front UQ46,85119.816 Monarchist National Party PNM44,48418.815 Italian Liberal Party PLI35,32315.012 Christian Democracy DC32,16913.611 National Reconstruction Union URN3,8271.61Total236,271100.080 Sunday 10 November 1946. Sources: La Stampa , 1946–1955 Local Elections (Italian), Electoral Archives of Naples (Italian)
Notes
City council election, 1952
The incumbent city council's mandate expired in November 1951; however, a new election was postponed to next spring. During the maintenance of the previous council, the national political situation had deeply changed during the previous six years. In 1951, Alcide De Gasperi's government changed the local electoral law to a block voting system, to ensure the leadership of its local administrations. Two thirds of the seats would be assigned to the winning coalition, abolishing proportional representation.
The election took place on 25 May 1952, resulting in the unexpected defeat of the Centrist Coalition, with a right-wing coalition formed by monarchists and neo-fascists obtaining the majority of votes. The monarchist and former fascist businessman Achille Lauro, who had received almost 140,000 preference votes, higher than any number of votes received by any candidate in a local election up to that point, was elected mayor on 9 July and formed a far-right executive composed by members of PNM and MSI.
Coalitions and parties Votes % +/- Seats +/-Seats by party—Seats by coalition Rightist Coalition213,38442.653 Monarchist National Party147,81429.5 10.737 22 Italian Social Movement59,11711.8 11.815 15 National Monarchist Front6,4531.3 1.31 1 Centrist Coalition149,84129.814 Christian Democracy119,67923.8 10.211 Italian Liberal Party 20,5314.1 10.92 10 Italian Democratic Socialist Party 7,6481.5 1.51 1 Italian Republican Party1,9830.40 Leftist Coalition 135,27327.013 Italian Communist Party107,91621.511 Italian Socialist Party15,0753.01 Pine List(Leftist Independents) 12,2822.5 2.51 1 Others 2,9880.6 0.60 Total501,426100.080 Sunday 25 May 1952. Sources: La Stampa , 1946–1955 Local Elections (Italian), Electoral Archives of Naples (Italian)
City council election, 1956 The occurrence of the 1956 election was anticipated by the effect of a new law which ordered a new legislature for a term of 4 years. A varying electoral system was additionally implemented; after Alcide De Gasperi's government had retired in 1953, the 1951 electoral law, based on a block voting system was restored.
In June 1953 the incumbent mayor Achille Lauro ran both as deputy and senator in the national election. Being elected in both the Chamber and the Senate, and despite having received more than 180,000 preference votes in the election for the Chamber of Deputies, he opted to remain in the Senate. However, in 1954, his election was invalidated, since he could not hold the offices of mayor and senator at the same time.
Due to his expulsion from the Senate and to his increasing popularity across Naples, in June 1954 Lauro founded a new monarchist party (People's Monarchist Party, PMP), breaking with the PNM's leader Alfredo Covelli. The new PMP party characterized itself for being closer to Christian Democracy, the support of which was necessary for Lauro to expand and enforce his political strength across the city.M. Mourre, Dizionario enciclopedico di storia, Mondadori, Milan 1988
The election, which took place on 27 May 1956, resulted in a landslide victory for Lauro's new monarchist party, with the Mayor himself obtaining more than 260,000 preference votes.
In 1958, after an inquiry sponsored by the national government, several administrative irregularities emerged and Lauro was ousted from the office, after the Zoli Cabinet nominated a special commissioner to rule the city.
Parties Votes % +/- Seats +/- People's Monarchist Party PMP276,59951.2 51.244 44 Italian Communist Party PCI102,30719.1 2.416 5 Christian Democracy DC87,63016.4 7.411 2 Italian Socialist Party PSI23,7654.4 1.33 2 Italian Social Movement MSI16,9363.2 8.62 13 Monarchist National Party PNM10,3061.9 27.61 36 Italian Liberal Party PLI9,0421.7 2.41 1 Italian Democratic Socialist Party PSDI4,3750.8 0.70 1 Others 3,4050.6 0 Total534,365100.080 Sunday 27 May 1956. Source: La Stampa , Electoral Archives of Naples (Italian)
City council election, 1960 In 1959 the two main monarchist parties (the PMP and PNM) merged into the new Italian Democratic Party, later the Italian Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity (PDIUM). Despite the political scandal that led to a long period of suspension of the democratic institutions of the city, the election, which occurred upon 6 November 1950, resulted in a new political success for the monarchists; their leader, Achille Lauro, was again elected mayor in January 1961, thanks to the support of the Christian Democracy party. However he was forced to resign after 11 months, due to a political crisis that again led to the suspension of the city council and to a snap election in June 1962.
Parties Votes % +/- Seats +/- Italian Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity PDIUM201,52236.0 36.029 29 Christian Democracy DC146,66126.2 9.822 11 Italian Communist Party PCI130,90823.4 4.319 3 Italian Socialist Party PSI34,1526.1 1.75 2 Italian Social Movement MSI23,2264.1 0.93 1 Italian Liberal Party PLI11,8542.1 0.41 Italian Democratic Socialist Party PSDI11,1812.0 1.21 1 Others 9070.2 0.4 0 Total560,441100.080 Sunday 6 November 1960. Source: La Stampa , Electoral Archives of Naples (Italian)
City council election, 1962 The snap election, which took place on 10 June 1962, resulted within PDIUM obtaining the largest number of votes, despite considerable losses. For the first time the Christian Democracy party emerged as a possible challenger for Lauro's political dominance. After the election, a new alliance between PDIUM and DC was formed. However, in 1964 another political crisis between the two coalition partners occurred and another snap election was called.
Parties Votes % +/- Seats +/- Italian Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity PDIUM176,78031.0 5.025 4 Christian Democracy DC158,82827.8 1.623 1 Italian Communist Party PCI119,59420.9 2.517 2 Italian Socialist Party PSI47,8418.4 2.37 2 Italian Social Movement MSI31,7155.5 1.44 1 Italian Democratic Socialist Party PSDI18,2583.2 1.22 1 Italian Liberal Party PLI15,4212.7 0.62 1 Others 2,5710.5 0.30 Total571,008100.080 Sunday 10 June 1962. Source: La Stampa , Electoral Archives of Naples (Italian)
City council election, 1964 The snap election took place on 22 November 1964, with the Christian Democracy party becoming the largest party; the monarchists obtained their worst result ever in a local election in Naples during the election. On 27 January 1965, the first Neapolitan centre-left executive was formed and the Christian democrat Ferdinando Clemente di San Luca was elected mayor by an alliance that comprehended DC, PSI and PSDI.
Parties Votes % +/- Seats +/- Christian Democracy DC200,60134.7 6.929 6 Italian Communist Party PCI142,34924.6 3.720 3 Italian Social Movement MSI59,54410.3 4.88 4 Italian Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity PDIUM48,3378.7 22.37 18 Italian Liberal Party PLI46,3078.0 5.36 4 Italian Socialist Party PSI37,8506.5 1.95 2 Italian Democratic Socialist Party PSDI33,0215.7 2.54 2 Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity PSIUP9,3961.6 1.61 1 Others 1,0730.2 0.30 Total578,478100.080 Sunday 22 November 1964. Source: La Stampa , Electoral Archives of Naples (Italian)
City council election, 1970 The election took place on 7 June 1970; this election, six years after the last, took place simultaneously with the first regional elections of Campania. The centre-left alliance was easily reconfirmed as the major political alliance in the city council.
Parties Votes % +/- Seats +/- Christian Democracy DC209,15333.8 0.928 1 Italian Communist Party PCI161,54726.1 1.522 2 Italian Social Movement MSI74,72012.1 1.810 2 Italian Socialist Party PSI45,6557.4 0.96 1 Italian Democratic Socialist Party PSDI43,3267.0 1.35 1 Italian Liberal Party PLI28,2704.6 3.43 3 Italian Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity PDIUM23,2203.8 4.83 4 Italian Republican Party PRI16,2452.6 2.62 2 Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity PSIUP11,1601.8 0.21 Others 4,7230.8 0.60 Total618,019100.080 Sunday 7 June 1970. Source: La Stampa , Electoral Archives of Naples (Italian)
City council election, 1975
The election took place on 15 June 1975.
Reflecting the national vote, the Italian Communist Party became, for the first time in history, the largest party within the city council, with 32% of electorate support. This extraordinary result led to the birth of the first red-giunta in the history of the city: a new coalition was formed by the leftist Socialist, Democratic-Socialist and Communist Party, while Maurizio Valenzi (PCI) was elected mayor on 27 September.
A notable fact in the election was the surge of the post-fascist Italian Social Movement.