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June 20 - June 27, 2004 |
The Republic of Italy Turns 58
June 2nd celebrations took place around the world including Rome and Toronto
Originally Published: 2004-06-06
On June 2, 1946, Italy chose the Republic in an institutional referendum held concurrently with the first free elections following the Fascist regime and the war.
The republican feelings that, with mixed luck, had been a constant in the recent history of the country since the Risorgimento, acquired new strength during the Resistance, as a consequence of the damning compromises and responsibilities of the House of Savoy during the Fascist dictatorship and of the catastrophic entry in World War II.
Following the liberation of Rome and the formation of the first Bonomi cabinet, the antimonarchical feelings, strongly advocated by the Left, produced the Decree of June 25, 1944, which entrusted the choice between Republic and Monarchy to the Constitutional Assembly, which would be elected at the end of the war.
Once the country was freed from both the Fascist dictatorship and the German occupation, the new postwar political atmosphere, the fear of some parties of losing the Monarchist vote, and the need to keep a unified government in the hard times of the economic, civil, and political rebuilding of Italy suggested to change that solution, transferring the choice from the Constitutional Assembly to the voters themselves.
Decree no. 99, dated March 16, 1946, called general elections for Sunday, June 2, 1946, in order to decide upon the institutional form of the State with the new tool of a referendum and to elect the Deputies to the national Constitutional Assembly, which was to write the new Constitution.
Despite King Victor Emmanuel II's last-ditch effort to save the Monarchy by abdicating in favour of his son Hubert II, the official referendum tally, approved on June 10, 1946, by the Court of Cassation (despite heavy controversy), counted 12,717,903 votes for the Republic vs. 10,709,284 for the Monarchy.
Italy became a Republic, and Hubert II of Savoy, who became known as the King of May, left the country on June 13, 1946, after repeatedly refusing to recognize the will of the nation.
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