1919 San Marino general election

 

12 November 1919
All 60 seats in the Grand and General Council 31 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	70.1%
Party Leader % Seats Communist Party — 37.31 25 Moderates — 27.17 17 Democratic Union             Carlo Gozi                          11.52 7 Independents — 15.62 11 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

General elections were held in San Marino on 12 November 1919 to elect the sixth term of the Grand and General Council. It was the first election following the Sammarinese Revolution, during which the Sammarinese Communist Party had agitated for the creation of new election laws, granting universal suffrage and secret ballot. These events largely paralleled the larger Italian Revolution, in which Italian communists likewise seized power in Italy, and provided support for a similar movement in San Marino.

Prior to this election, the Grand and General Council operated under an election law passed in 1906, in which a third of the seats of the council were elected every three years (leading to elections for 20 seats in 1918). A plurality-at-large voting system, in which all candidates were officially non-partisan, was implemented, although candidates tended to belong to the liberal faction, which had pushed through the 1906 reform as a result of a Citizenry Meeting. Voting was restricted to male citizens of San Marino who were at least 24 years of age and the head of a family.

Mass unrest as a result of rising inflation, as well as discord spawning from the ongoing crisis in Italy, pushed the country toward economic collapse, catalyzing mass demonstrations for reform. At the start of 1919, several leftist groups coalesced into the Communist Party, at the direction of the Italian communists, who provided material aid to the country. Communists and other groups also helped organize councils in the country, in parallel to the communal constituencies, which took the reigns of local governance of industry and towns. Fearing bloodshed, the Grand Council relented to new elections in 1919 under a progressive electoral system, hoping to stave off a full-scale communist takeover. The traditional establishment, although suffering from internal division, created the Democratic Union. Compared to its more radical Italian counterpart, the Sammarinese Communist Party gained support by promising compensation for land appropriation and cooperation with former landowners. The party also took up a generally pro-Catholic stance, although factions within the party for secularists and antireligious.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Sammarinese Communist Party	2,002	37.31	25
	Moderate Democrats and Socialists	1,458	27.17	17
	Independents	838	15.62	11
	Sammarinese Democratic Union	618	11.52	7
	Sammarinese People's Party	235	4.38	0
	Others	215	4.01	0
Total		5,366	100.00	60
Valid votes		5,366	97.32
Invalid/blank votes		148	2.68
Total votes		5,514	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		7,867	70.09