On June 2, 1946 an election, the first since 1924, was held in Italy. Vote was allowed to all males and females older than 21. Voters received both a ballot for the choice between Republic or Monarchy, and one for the election of the deputies of the new Constituent Assembly; the latter would have the task to write a new constitutional chart, as established by a decree of 16 March 1946. The referendum was won by a move to a Republic with some 12.7 million votes, against 10.7 million favoring to continue being a monarchy. Umberto II, the last king of the country, left Italy on 13 June 1946. On 18 June 1946 the Corte di Cassazione proclaimed officially the victory of the Republic. The election of the Constituent Assembly was based on a proportional system, based on 32 electoral regions. 573 deputies were to be elected, although the elections could not be held in South Tyrol, Trieste, Gorizia, Pola, Fiume and Zara, which were then under Allied or Yugoslav military control. Thus, 556 deputies resulted elected. On 25 June 1946 the assembly was established, with Giuseppe Saragat as president. Its first act, on 28 June, was the election of Enrico De Nicola as the Italian Republic's provisional president. On 504 voters, De Nicola obtained 396 votes, followed by Cipriano Facchinetti with 40, Ottavia Penna Buscemi with 32, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando with 12, Carlo Sforza with 2, Alcide De Gasperi and Alfredo Proja with 2. Aside from the creation of the new constitution, the assembly was entrusted the approval of governments and of their budgets, and the ratification of the international treaties. The legislative function was formally assigned to the government, but, in virtue of the pre-Fascist tradition, the latter often assigned the emission of laws to the assembly. The assembly elected among its member a Constitutional Commission of 75 deputies, with the task to write down the constitution's general layout. The Commission was further divided into three sub-commissions:
Rights and Obligations of the Citizens, chaired by Umberto Tupini
A more restricted committee had the task to write the constitution in accordance with the work of the three sub-commissions. The Constitutional Commission ended its work on 12 January 1947 and on 4 March the assembly started its debate about the text. The final text of the Constitution of Italy was approved on 22 December 1947. The Assembly was dissolved on 31 January 1948, replaced by the new Italian Parliament.
