The Legislature IX of Italy () was the 9th legislature of the Italian Republic, and lasted from 12 July 1983 until 1 July 1987. 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).

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.Il socialismo liberale di Craxi 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.Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1048 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.Craxi, storia di un riformista

Starting from 1983, Craxi led the third longest-lived government of Italy during the republican era,Composizione del Governo Craxi I being a close ally of two key figures of DC, Giulio Andreotti and Arnaldo Forlani, in a loose cross-party alliance often dubbed CAF.I quattro anni che sconvolsero l'Italia. Ascesa e crollo dell'impero del CAF 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.Le conseguenze economiche di Craxi 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.La storia del PSI. La riforma della scala mobile 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.The Power to Dismiss 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."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

However in April 1987, the secretary of the Christian Democracy Ciriaco De Mita decided to drop his support for Craxi's government.Craxi e De Mita, quando la staffetta era guerra 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.Quando Bettino disertò il passaggio di consegne mandandoci Amato

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 MinisterParty Term of office GovernmentComposition Took office Left office Bettino CraxiItalian Socialist Party 4 August 1983 1 August 1986Craxi IDC PSI PSDI PLI PRI 1 August 1986 18 April 1987Craxi II Amintore Fanfani Christian Democracy 18 April 1987 28 July 1987Fanfani VIDC

Composition

Chamber of Deputies President: Nilde Iotti (PCI), elected on 12 July 1983 Vice presidents: Aldo Aniasi (PSI), Vito Lattanzio (DC), Oscar Luigi Scalfaro (DC, until 4 August 1983), Oddo Biasini (PRI), Giuseppe Azzaro (DC, from 29 September 1983)

+Initial compositionFinal compositionParliamentary groupSeatsParliamentary groupSeatsChange Christian Democracy 225 Christian Democracy 226 1 Italian Communist Party 172 Italian Communist Party 177 5 Italian Socialist Party 73 Italian Socialist Party 74 1 Italian Social Movement – National Right 42 Italian Social Movement – National Right 42 Republican 29 Republican 29 Italian Democratic Socialist Party 23 Italian Democratic Socialist Party 22 1 Independent Left 20 Independent Left 20 Italian Liberal Party 16 16 Radical Party 9 9 Proletarian Democracy 7 7 Mixed 46 Mixed 8 38 Sudtirolen Volkspartei3 Sudtirolen Volkspartei3 Valdostan Union – UVP – People's Party1 Valdostan Union – Popular Democrats – UVP1 Liga Veneta1 Liga Veneta1 Italian Liberal Party16 16 Radical Party11 11 Proletarian Democracy7 7 Proletarian Unity Party6 6 Sardinian Action Party1 1 Non inscrits3 3Total seats 630Total seats 630

Senate President: Francesco Cossiga (DC, until 24 June 1985), elected on 12 July 1983; Amintore Fanfani (DC, until 17 April 1987), elected on 9 July 1985; Giovanni Malagodi (PLI), elected on 22 April 1987 Vice Presidents: Giorgio De Giuseppe (DC), Libero Della Briotta (PSI, until 10 June 1985), Giglia Tedesco (PCI), Enzo Enriques Agnoletti (SI, until 25 September 1985), Gino Scevarolli (PSI, from 10 July 1985), Adriano Ossicini (SI, from 3 October 1985)

+Initial compositionFinal compositionParliamentary groupSeatsParliamentary groupSeatsChange Christian Democratic 121 Christian Democratic 121 Communist 90 Communist 92 2 Italian Socialist Party 38 Italian Socialist Party 40 2 Independent Left 19 Independent Left 17 2 Italian Social Movement – National Right 18 Italian Social Movement – National Right 18 Republican 12 Republican 12 Italian Democratic Socialist Party 9 Italian Democratic Socialist Party 9 Italian Liberal Party 6 6 Mixed 15 Mixed 9 6 South Tyrolean People's Party3 South Tyrolean People's Party2 1 Valdostan Union1 Valdostan Union1 Liga Veneta1 Liga Veneta1 Sardinian Action Party1 Sardinian Action Party1 Radical Party1 Radical Party1 Italian Liberal Party6 6 Non inscrits1 Non inscrits2 1Total seats 322Total seats 324 2

Senators for Life Senator Motivation Appointed by From TillCesare MerzagoraMerits in the social fieldPresident Antonio SegniGiuseppe SaragatFormer President of Italy ex officioAmintore FanfaniMerits in the social fieldPresident Giovanni LeoneGiovanni LeoneFormer President of Italy ex officioLeo ValianiMerits in the social fieldPresident Sandro PertiniEduardo De FilippoMerits in the literary and artistic field President Sandro Pertini31 October 1984 (deceased)Camilla RaveraMerits in the social fieldPresident Sandro PertiniCarlo BoMerits in the literary field President Sandro Pertini18 July 1984Norberto BobbioMerits in the social and scientific field President Sandro Pertini18 July 1984Sandro PertiniFormer President of Italy ex officio29 June 1985

References