Elections in Milan

Changes made by the 1912 electoral reform widened the voting franchise to include all literate men aged 21 or over who had served in the armed forces.

The Socialists, in fact, but also the Radicals and the Republicans, had long demanded the introduction of universal manhood suffrage, necessary in a modern liberal democracy.

The Italian Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti declared himself in favor of universal male suffrage, believing that the extension of the franchise would bring more conservative rural voters to the polls as well as drawing votes from grateful socialists.

But after the 1913 national election, became clear that the universal male suffrage, contrary to Giolitti's opinions, would have destabilized the entire political establishment: the "mass parties" were the ones who benefitted from the new electoral system.

In a huge blow for the traditional moderate and liberal groups which had dominated both national and milanese political system for more than 50 years, the socialists were able to win the super-majority of seats in the City Council granted by the local electoral law for the first time in history and their leader, Emilio Caldara, became the first socialist Mayor of a major Italian city.

In March 1919 Benito Mussolini had founded in Milan the political organization Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, which was incorporated in an ultra-conservative coalition formed also by the liberals and the nationalists led by Enrico Corradini, and other right-wing forces.

Despite the intense violent activity of the fascist paramilitary groups during the electoral campaign, the socialists were able to retain the majority in the City Council for a few votes.

It was a snap election after two years of fascist death threats to the previous Socialist municipal councillors and the final removal of Mayor Angelo Filippetti by the Royal police under the accusation of a republican riot.

The Fasci Italiani di Combattimento incorporated an ultra-conservative coalition formed also by the liberals and the Italian People's Party, and other right-wing forces.

Following the intense violent activity of the fascist paramilitary groups during the electoral campaign, the Centre-right coalition was able to gain the majority in the City Council face to the leftists forces which were divided by their leadership struggles.

Antonio Greppi had joined the social-democratic group and formed a new centrist alliance with the DC, the PLI and the PRI.

The centrist incumbent coalition obtained an absolute majority with 53% of suffrages, which was changed into a 66% of seats by the electoral mechanism.

However Greppi, who had unsuccessfully called for a coalition of socialist unity between the PSDI and the PSI, lost the support of the DC.

For the first time in ten years the Socialist Party entered again in the executive board of the city and a centre-left alliance was formed.

This exceptional growth of the liberals – and the contemporary defeat of the Socialist Party – can be explained by the poor economic results of the first centre-left national government and by the ability of the liberal leader Giovanni Malagodi to draw some votes from the Italian Social Movement, the Monarchist Party and especially Christian Democracy, whose electoral base was composed also by conservatives suspicious of the Socialists.

Despite the huge loss by the left-wing parties, a center-left coalition was formed again and Pietro Bucalossi (PSDI), who succeeded Cassinis in February 1964, was confirmed Mayor by the majority of the City Council.

However in 1967 the socialists had already been able to impose their own candidate for Mayor, succeeding in having elected Aldo Aniasi at the head of a centre-left coalition.

This extraordinary result led to the birth of the first red-giunta in the history of the city: the new coalition was formed by the leftist Socialist and Communist Party, while Aldo Aniasi was reconfirmed Mayor.

A notable fact in the election was the surge of the post-fascist Italian Social Movement, which became the fourth party with the 7% of the votes.