ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO
LONDON, TUESDAY APRIL 8, 1924
ITALIAN ELECTIONS.
MUSSOLINI’S TRIUMPH.
SWEEPING MAJORITY.
FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. ROME, MONDAY.
The general elections held in Italy yesterday gave the Fascist party and the Government candidates the huge majority that was anticipated. The elaborate organisation of the new Fascist party, which had established headquarters in every town and commune of Italy, representing some 8,000 political centres, and the prestige of the Mussolini Government, which had swept Communism and Bolshevism from Italy, had a two-fold effect. It weakened and almost paralysed the Opposition, and, on the other hand, elicited the enthusiastic approval of the nation, which gave expression to its feelings in yesterday’s overwhelming vote. From the first figures that are to hand, it is clear that the Fascists and the Government party will have not merely the necessary two-thirds, but probably even more than the 370 seats required in Parliament to run the Government entirely on its own programme. The elections took place almost everywhere in perfect quiet. I visited a number of sections in Rome yesterday, and was allowed by the presidents to enter the rooms where the voting took place in such profound silence that even the buzz of a mosquito might be heard. For Italy, the supposed country of easy excitability and tumult, it was a day of quiet – another of the Mussolini miracles. In each section there were only from 500 to 1,000 voters, and as they had from nine o’clock in the morning until nine at night to vote, they had plenty of time. So they dropped in by twos and threes. By noon one section considered it had been fortunate in recording 167 votes in three hours! The percentage was larger than it was at the two previous elections. It was 47 per cent. under Nitti in 1919, and 56 per cent. under Giolitti in 1921. Yesterday it is given generally as having been 62 per cent. In the province of Florence it was 78 per cent., and in some other places as high as 82 per cent. On the other hand, Sicily seems to have achieved the record of abstention, only 25 per cent. of the electors having voted. Signori Giolitti, Orlando, and Salahdra, of course, were re-elected, but Signor Facta, the last Premier before Mussolini, declined to be a candidate.
RESULTS IN ROME.
The electoral results in Rome, which may give a fairly good general idea, were as follows: Number of voters, 74,000; Fascistlist, 44,000; Populists, 8,000; Republicans, 5,000; Communist-socialists, 4,500; Bolshevik-socialists, 3,500; Unified Socialists, 3,500; Liberals, 3,000. It is noteworthy that the Socialists were split up into three sections, and their vote was broken up in the rest of Italy in about the same manner as in Rome. The papers are almost embarrassed in recording the touching uniformity of the voting, and some comic reports are not missing. Most affecting, for instance, is Bellegra, in the Province of Rome, where 553 voters are reported to have cast 554 votes for the Government candidates.
In Naples, Palermo, Genoa, Turin, Milan, Florence, and Venice voting passed off in absolute quiet. In Milan Mussolini himself went to vote at nine o’clock in the morning. The percentage of voters there was 72. The Fascists scored 58,000 votes out of a total of 144,000. The Unified Socialists polled 45,000, the Maximalists 20,000, the Communists 8,500, and the Populists 12,000.
The three sections of Socialists, Maximalists, and Communists would, therefore, if united, have scored a majority vote in the Lombard capital. The National Fascist list, according to the latest results given for all Italy, scored 1,341,000 votes, to which 95,000 votes of the supplementary list must be added, making a grand total for the Government party of 1,437,000 votes in fifty-one provinces. Only a few more reports have still to come in, but they will probably not change the definite result. The total of opposition votes is 823,000.
Naturally election day could not pass entirely without some incidents. A dispute in a drink shop at Tivoli between two Fascists and a Communist called Nardi ended in shots being fired, and Nardi was killed. At Tromello, near Pavia, a dissident Fascist named Morini was shot during the night, his body being found this morning; and at Modugno, in the province of Bari, electoral rows became so serious that the militia had to intervene and fire, but without seriously injuring anyone. These are the only grave incidents recorded.
POLITICAL CRISIS IN SOUTH AFRICA.
In the Union House of Assembly at Cape Town yesterday General Smuts announced the immediate dissolution of Parliament. He has taken this step in consequence of the defeat of Mr. Robertson, the Government candidate, in the by-election at Wakkerstroom (Transvaal) on Saturday last. Mr. Robertson polled only 1,207 votes against the 1,420 given for Mr. Naude, the Nationalist candidate.
It is further announced that as the visit to South Africa of the Prince of Wales, who was to arrive at Cape Town on May 19, would coincide with the electioneering campaign, General Smuts has thought it wise to recommend that the tour shall be postponed.
THE BY-ELECTION DEFEAT
FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. CAPETOWN, MONDAY.
Tho severe defeat suffered by the Smuts Ministry at Wakkerstroom is the solo topic of discussion in Parliamentary circles to-day. It reduces the Government majority to eight, and although this is sufficient under ordinary circumstances, it is admitted that the prestige of the Ministry has suffered a heavy blow. The total loss of seats since the last general election is eight, involving a turnover of sixteen votes.
The Nationalist organ De Burger is, of course, jubilant, and has an article in which it points out that the Government nominee was extremely popular, and that the leaders of the Transvaal Nationalists’ party had not dared to forecast victory. The journal therefore claims that the result was a signal triumph for Nationalist principles.
Impartial students of the political situation in South Africa regard the election as convincing proof of the effectiveness of the pact between Labour and Nationalism as an electioneering instrument. The constituency includes several hundred railwaymen voters, who voted solidly for the Nationalist candidate in obedience to orders, though it is believed that many did so with reluctance. On the other hand, though the pact is unpopular with the Conservative section of Nationalists, there is reason to think that the Nationalist electorate polled full strength.
It is noteworthy that General Smuts, in his final message to the electors, laid stress on the danger that under pact rule Socialism would become a menace and spread from whites to natives. A secret campaign with this object was, he declared, already in progress. The Cape Argus asserts that the main cause of dissatisfaction with the Smuts Ministry is the hard times.
“LIKE A THUNDERBOLT.”
FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. CAPE TOWN, MONDAY (LATER).
The announcement by General Smuts of his intention to advise the Governor-general to dissolve Parliament came like a thunderbolt upon all parties. This momentous decision was reached after a protracted Cabinet meeting,.
The House of Assembly was well filled, among the visitors in the gallery being Mrs. Smuts and the widow of General Botha, who is staying with her. The Nationalists and Labour party raised shouts of exultation when the clerk read the official return of the election. The cheering had barely died away when General Smuts, with a smile on his face, made known his decision to dissolve. A look of incredulous amazement ran round the opposition benches. General Hertzog seemed to be sincere in welcoming the announcement, and Mr. Cresswell, the Labour leader, professed to be equally pleased, but he appeared disgruntled and discomposed. It is generally expected that the election will take place early in June, as it cannot be held much earlier.