1968 Italian general election

The pure party-list proportional representation had traditionally become the electoral system for the Chamber of Deputies. Italian provinces were united in 32 constituencies, each electing a group of candidates. At constituency level, seats were divided between open lists using the largest remainder method with Imperiali quota. Remaining votes and seats were transferred at national level, where they was divided using the Hare quota, and automatically distributed to best losers into the local lists.

For the Senate, 237 single-seat constituencies were established, even if the assembly had risen to 315 members. The candidates needed a landslide victory of two thirds of votes to be elected, a goal which could be reached only by the German minorities in South Tirol. All remained votes and seats were grouped in party lists and regional constituencies, where a D'Hondt method was used: inside the lists, candidates with the best percentages were elected.

On 21 August 1964, the historic leader of the Italian Communist Party, Palmiro Togliatti died of cerebral haemorrhage[4] while vacationing with his companion Nilde Iotti in Yalta, then in the Soviet Union. According to some of his collaborators, Togliatti was travelling to the Soviet Union in order to give his support to Leonid Brezhnev's election as Nikita Khrushchev's successor at the head of Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Togliatti was replaced by Luigi Longo, a long-time prominent PCI members; Longo continued Togliatti's line, known as the "Italian road to Socialism", playing down the alliance between the Italian Communist Party and the USSR. He reacted without hostility to the new left movements that sprung up in 1968 and, among the leaders of the PCI, was one of those most disposed to engage with the new activists, although he did not condone their excesses.

Moreover, Francesco De Martino, became the new Secretary of the Italian Socialist Party, after the resignation of Pietro Nenni, due to age.

In 1965, the SIFAR intelligence agency was transformed into the SID following an aborted coup d'état, Piano Solo, which was to give power to the Carabinieri, then headed by general De Lorenzo.

The difficult equilibrium of Italian society was challenged by a rising left-wing movement, in the wake of 1968 student unrest ("Sessantotto"). This movement was characterized by such heterogeneous events as revolts by jobless farm workers (Avola, Battipaglia 1969), occupations of Universities by students, social unrest in the large Northern factories (1969 autunno caldo, hot autumn). While conservative forces tried to roll back some of the social advances of the 1960s, and part of the military indulged in "sabre rattling" in order to intimidate progressive political forces, numerous left-wing activists became increasingly frustrated at social inequalities, while the myth of guerrilla (Che Guevara, the Uruguayan Tupamaros) and of the Chinese Maoist "cultural revolution" increasingly inspired extreme left-wing violent movements.

Social protests, in which the student movement was particularly active, shook Italy during the 1969 autunno caldo (Hot Autumn), leading to the occupation of the Fiat factory in Turin. In March 1968, clashes occurred at La Sapienza university in Rome, during the "Battle of Valle Giulia." Mario Capanna, associated with the New Left, was one of the figures of the student movement, along with the members of Potere Operaio and Autonomia Operaia such as (Antonio Negri, Oreste Scalzone, Franco Piperno and of Lotta Continua such as Adriano Sofri.

Seat distribution by constituency for the Chamber of Deputies (left) and Senate (right).

The election was a test for the new organization of the socialist area, which was divided between the new revolutionary and Communist-allied Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity and the governmental social-democratic federation between PSI and PSDI. The polls said that the split of the PSIUP in 1964 had not been a purely parliamentary operation, but the reflex of divisions into the leftist electorate. The result shocked the PSI's leadership, causing the sudden sinking of the social-democratic federation, and an alternance of provisional retirements by the government, firstly led by lifetime senator Giovanni Leone and then, through two political crisis, by DC's secretary Mariano Rumor. Unsuccessfully trying to recover its lost leftist electors, the PSI returned to the alliance with the PCI for the regional elections of 1970, so causing another crisis and a new change of premiership, then led by Emilio Colombo, but the government coalition had continuous problems of instability. Influent Giulio Andreotti tried to resurrect the centrist formula in 1972, but he failed, opening the way to the first early election of the republican history.

Chamber of Deputies

← Summary of the 19 May 1968 Chamber of Deputies election results →

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/−
	Christian Democracy (DC)	12,437,848	39.12	266	+6
	Italian Communist Party (PCI)	8,551,347	26.90	177	+11
	Unified Socialist Party (PSU)	4,603,192	14.48	91	−29
	Italian Liberal Party (PLI)	1,850,650	5.82	31	−8
	Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity (PSIUP)	1,414,697	4.45	23	New
	Italian Social Movement (MSI)	1,414,036	4.45	24	−3
	Italian Republican Party (PRI)	626,533	1.97	9	+3
	Italian Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity (PDIUM)	414,507	1.30	6	−2
	South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)	152,991	0.48	3	±0
	Social Democracy	100,212	0.32	0	±0
	New Republic (NR)	63,402	0.20	0	±0
	Autonomous Party of Italy's Pensioners (PAPI)	41,416	0.13	0	±0
	Valdostan Union (UV)	31,557	0.10	0	−1
	Others	87,674	0.28	0	±0
Invalid/blank votes		1,211,216	–	–	–
Total		33,001,644	100	630	±0
Registered voters/turnout		35,566,493	92.79	–	–
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Popular vote DC   39.12% PCI   26.90% PSU   14.48% PLI   5.82% PSIUP   4.45% MSI   4.45% PRI   1.97% PDIUM   1.30% Others   1.50%

Seats DC   42.22% PCI   28.10% PSU   14.44% PLI   4.92% MSI   3.81% PSIUP   3.65% PRI   1.43% PDIUM   0.95% Others   0.48%

Senate of the Republic

← Summary of the 19 May 1968 Senate of the Republic election results →

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/−
	Christian Democracy (DC)	10,972,114	38.34	135	+6
	Italian Communist Party – PSIUP (PCI–PSIUP)	8,585,601	30.00	101	+17
	Unified Socialist Party (PSU)	4,354,906	15.22	46	−12
	Italian Liberal Party (PLI)	1,943,795	6.79	16	−2
	Italian Social Movement (MSI)	1,304,847	4.56	11	−3
	Italian Republican Party (PRI)	622,388	2.17	2	+2
	Italian Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity (PDIUM)	312,702	1.09	2	±0
	MSI – PDIUM	292,349	1.02	0	−1
	South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)	131,071	0.46	2	±0
	Social Democracy	36,073	0.13	0	New
	Valdostan Union (UV)	28,414	0.10	0	±0
	Others	31,761	0.11	0	±0
Invalid/blank votes		2,740,176	–	–	–
Total		30,252,921	100	315	±0
Registered voters/turnout		32,517,638	93.04	–	–
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Popular vote DC   38.34% PCI–PSIUP   30.00% PSU   15.22% PLI   6.79% MSI   4.56% PRI   2.17% PDIUM   1.09% Others   1.83%

Seats DC   42.86% PCI–PSIUP   32.06% PSU   14.60% PLI   5.08% MSI   3.49% PRI   0.63% PDIUM   0.63% Others   0.63%