Remaining votes and seats were transferred at national level, where they were divided using the Hare quota, and automatically distributed to best losers into the local lists.

The candidates needed a landslide victory of two-thirds of votes to be automatically elected, a goal which could be reached only by the German minorities in South Tirol.

Communist Secretary Luigi Longo suffered a stroke in late 1968; although partially recovering in the following months, from February 1969 he was assisted in most decisions by Enrico Berlinguer acting as cive-secretary.

Following Michelini's failed approach of inserimento, Almirante introduced a double strategy of hard anti-systemic discourse combined with the creation of a broader "National Right" (Destra Nazionale) coalition.

Former Premier Mariano Rumor so returned at the head of the government with his traditional centre-left alliance between DC, PSI, PSDI and PRI, but he was abandoned by the Republicans after eight months.

After the consequent great controversies between Catholics and secularists, former Premier Aldo Moro persuaded the Socialists to accept a minority government composed only of the Christian Democrats and the Republicans.