Legislature IX of Italy

IX legislatura della Repubblica Italiana
9th legislature
Type
Type
HousesChamber of Deputies
Senate of the Republic
History
Founded12 July 1983 (1983-07-12)
Disbanded1 July 1987 (1987-07-01) (3 years, 354 days)
Preceded byVIII Legislature
Succeeded byX Legislature
Leadership
Francesco Cossiga (DC) (from 12 July 1983 until 24 June 1985)
Amintore Fanfani (DC) (until 17 April 1987)
Giovanni Malagodi (PLI)
Nilde Iotti, PCI
since 12 July 1983
Structure
Seats630 (C)
315 (S)
Chamber of Deputies political groups
  •   DC (226)
  •   PCI (177)
  •   PSI (74)
  •   MSI (42)
  •   PRI (29)
  •   PSDI (22)
  •   SI (20)
  •   PLI (16)
  •   Rad (9)
  •   DP (7)
  •   Mixed (8)
Senate political groups
Elections
Proportional
Proportional
Last general election
26 June 1983
Meeting place
Palazzo Montecitorio, Rome (C)
Palazzo Madama, Rome (S)
Website
storia.camera.it/legislature/leg-repubblica-IX
www.senato.it/leg9/home
Constitution
Constitution of Italy

The Legislature IX of Italy (Italian: IX Legislatura della Repubblica Italiana) was the 9th legislature of the Italian Republic, and lasted from 12 July 1983 until 1 July 1987.[1][2] Its composition was the one resulting from the general election of 26 and 27 June 1983. The election was called by President Sandro Pertini one year before the previous legislature's natural end on 5 May 1983, after a crisis in the incumbent government majority (Pentapartito).[3][4]

History

The Pentaparty formula, the governative alliance between five centrist parties created in 1981, caused unexpected problems to Christian Democracy (DC). The alliance was fixed and universal, extended both to the national government and to the local administrations. Considering that the 1983 election result did not longer depend by the strength of the DC, but by the strength of the entire Pentapartito, centrist electors began to look at the Christian Democratic vote as not necessary to prevent a Communist success. More, voting for one of the four minor parties of the alliance was seen as a form of moderate protest against the government without giving advantages to the PCI.

In this context, the figure of the socialist leader Bettino Craxi emerged. As leader of Italian Socialist Party (PSI), since 1976 Craxi had tried to undermine the Communist Party, which until then had been continuously increasing its votes in elections, and to consolidate the PSI as a modern, strongly pro-European reformist social-democratic party, with deep roots in the democratic left-wing.[5] This strategy called for ending most of the party's historical traditions as a working-class trade union based party and attempting to gain new support among white-collar and public sector employees.

Even if the PSI never became a serious electoral challenger either to the PCI or the DC, its pivotal position in the political arena allowed it to claim the post of Prime Minister for Craxi after the 1983 general election.[6] The electoral support for the Christian Democrats was significantly weakened. The PSI threatened to leave the parliamentary majority unless Craxi was made Prime Minister. The Christian Democrats accepted this compromise to avoid a new election and Craxi became the first Socialist in the history of the Italian Republic to be appointed Prime Minister.[7]

Starting from 1983, Craxi led the third longest-lived government of Italy during the republican era,[8] being a close ally of two key figures of DC, Giulio Andreotti and Arnaldo Forlani, in a loose cross-party alliance often dubbed CAF.[9][10] Craxi had a firm grasp on a party previously troubled by factionalism, and tried to distance it from the Communists and to bring it closer to Christian Democrats and other parties. During Craxi's tenure as Prime Minister, Italy became the fifth largest industrial nation in the world.[11] However, inflation was often in the double digits. Against trade union resistance, Craxi reacted by abolishing wage-price indexation (a mechanism known as scala mobile or "escalator"), under which wages had been increased automatically in line with inflation.[12] Abolishing the escalator system did help reduce inflation, which was also falling in other major countries, but in the long term it inevitably increased industrial action as workers had to bargain for better salaries. In any event, the victory of the "No" campaign in the 1985 referendum called by the Italian Communist Party was a major victory for Craxi.

In domestic policy, a number of reforms were initiated during Craxi's time in office. In 1984, solidarity contracts (work-sharing arrangements to avoid redundancies) were introduced, while restrictions on part-time employment were relaxed.[13] In the field of family welfare, legislation was enacted in 1984 and 1986 that changed the family allowance system "so that people most in need received larger amounts and coverage was progressively reduced to the point of termination once certain income levels were exceeded."[14]

However in April 1987, the Secretary of the Christian Democracy Ciriaco De Mita decided to drop his support for Craxi's government.[15] This caused the immediate fall of the cabinet and the formation of a new government led by the long-time Christian Democratic politician Amintore Fanfani to govern the country until a snap election was called. Even though Fanfani was a close friend and ally of Craxi, he did not participate in the swearing in ceremony, sending the Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council Giuliano Amato.[16]

Presidential election

On 24 June 1985 the Parliament and the representatives of the 20 Italian regions met to elect the seventh President of Italy. On the same day the christian democrat Francesco Cossiga was elected on the first ballot with 751 votes out of 1011.

Government

Prime Minister Party Term of office Government Composition
Took office Left office
Bettino Craxi
(1934–2000)		 Italian Socialist Party 4 August 1983 1 August 1986 Craxi I DC  • PSI  • PSDI  • PLI  • PRI
(Pentapartito)
1 August 1986 18 April 1987 Craxi II
Amintore Fanfani
(1908–1999)		 Christian Democracy 18 April 1987 28 July 1987 Fanfani VI DC

Composition

Chamber of Deputies

Parliamentary groups in the Chamber of Deputies
Initial composition[17] Final composition[17]
Parliamentary group Seats Parliamentary group Seats Change
Christian Democracy 225 Christian Democracy 226 Increase 1
Italian Communist Party 172 Italian Communist Party 177 Increase 5
Italian Socialist Party 73 Italian Socialist Party 74 Increase 1
Italian Social Movement – National Right 42 Italian Social Movement – National Right 42 Steady
Republican 29 Republican 29 Steady
Italian Democratic Socialist Party 23 Italian Democratic Socialist Party 22 Decrease 1
Independent Left 20 Independent Left 20 Steady
Italian Liberal Party 16 Increase 16
Radical Party 9 Increase 9
Proletarian Democracy 7 Increase 7
Mixed 46 Mixed 8 Decrease 38
Sudtirolen Volkspartei 3 Sudtirolen Volkspartei 3 Steady
Valdostan Union – UVP – People's Party 1 Valdostan Union – Popular Democrats – UVP 1 Steady
Liga Veneta 1 Liga Veneta 1 Steady
Italian Liberal Party 16 Decrease 16
Radical Party 11 Decrease 11
Proletarian Democracy 7 Decrease 7
Proletarian Unity Party 6 Decrease 6
Sardinian Action Party 1 Decrease 1
Non inscrits 3 Increase 3
Total seats 630 Total seats 630 Steady

    Senate

    Parliamentary groups in the Senate of the Republic
    Initial composition[18] Final composition[18]
    Parliamentary group Seats Parliamentary group Seats Change
    Christian Democratic 121 Christian Democratic 121 Steady
    Communist 90 Communist 92 Increase 2
    Italian Socialist Party 38 Italian Socialist Party 40 Increase 2
    Independent Left 19 Independent Left 17 Decrease 2
    Italian Social Movement – National Right 18 Italian Social Movement – National Right 18 Steady
    Republican 12 Republican 12 Steady
    Italian Democratic Socialist Party 9 Italian Democratic Socialist Party 9 Steady
    Italian Liberal Party 6 Increase 6
    Mixed 15 Mixed 9 Decrease 6
    South Tyrolean People's Party 3 South Tyrolean People's Party 2 Decrease 1
    Valdostan Union 1 Valdostan Union 1 Steady
    Liga Veneta 1 Liga Veneta 1 Steady
    Sardinian Action Party 1 Sardinian Action Party 1 Steady
    Radical Party 1 Radical Party 1 Steady
    Italian Liberal Party 6 Decrease 6
    Non inscrits 1 Non inscrits 2 Increase 1
    Total seats 322 Total seats 324 Increase 2

      Senators for Life

      Senator Motivation Appointed by From Till
      Cesare Merzagora Merits in the social field President Antonio Segni Previous legislature Next legislature
      Giuseppe Saragat Former President of Italy ex officio Previous legislature Next legislature
      Amintore Fanfani Merits in the social field President Giovanni Leone Previous legislature Next legislature
      Giovanni Leone Former President of Italy ex officio Previous legislature Next legislature
      Leo Valiani Merits in the social field President Sandro Pertini Previous legislature Next legislature
      Eduardo De Filippo Merits in the literary and artistic field President Sandro Pertini Previous legislature 31 October 1984 (deceased)
      Camilla Ravera Merits in the social field President Sandro Pertini Previous legislature Next legislature
      Carlo Bo Merits in the literary field President Sandro Pertini 18 July 1984 Next legislature
      Norberto Bobbio Merits in the social and scientific field President Sandro Pertini 18 July 1984 Next legislature
      Sandro Pertini Former President of Italy ex officio 29 June 1985 Next legislature

      References

      1. ↑ "Senato della Repubblica – 9ª Legislatura". www.senato.it (in Italian). Retrieved 14 December 2019.
      2. ↑ "IX Legislatura della Repubblica italiana / Legislature / Camera dei deputati – Portale storico". storia.camera.it (in Italian). Retrieved 14 December 2019.
      3. ↑ "PER CINQUE VOLTE DI SEGUITO LE CAMERE SCIOLTE IN ANTICIPO – la Repubblica.it". Archivio – la Repubblica.it (in Italian). 29 April 1987. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
      4. ↑ "VIII Legislatura / Cronologia / Camera dei deputati – Portale storico". storia.camera.it (in Italian). Retrieved 14 December 2019.
      5. ↑ Il socialismo liberale di Craxi
      6. ↑ Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1048 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
      7. ↑ Craxi, storia di un riformista
      8. ↑ Composizione del Governo Craxi I
      9. ↑ I quattro anni che sconvolsero l'Italia. Ascesa e crollo dell'impero del CAF
      10. ↑ La stagione del CAF
      11. ↑ Le conseguenze economiche di Craxi
      12. ↑ La storia del PSI. La riforma della scala mobile
      13. ↑ The Power to Dismiss
      14. ↑ European Observatory On Family Policies: National Family Policies In EC-Countries In 1990 by Wilfred Dumon in collaboration with Françoise Bartiaux, Tanja Nuelant, and experts from each of the member states
      15. ↑ Craxi e De Mita, quando la staffetta era guerra
      16. ↑ Quando Bettino disertò il passaggio di consegne mandandoci Amato
      17. 1 2 "IX Legislatura della Repubblica italiana / Legislature / Camera dei deputati – Portale storico". storia.camera.it (in Italian). Retrieved 15 December 2019.
      18. 1 2 "senato.it – Composizione dei gruppi parlamentari nella IX Legislatura". www.senato.it (in Italian). Retrieved 15 December 2019.
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