CESARE PINELLI
«Non sai che il voto č segreto?».
L'affermazione di un principio costituzionale e delle sue garanzie
N. 176
Summary - The Author draws the main features of the affirmation of secret ballot and its underlying measures in certain European countries between the end of the XIX century and the XX.
The essay is intended to show that the debate on secret ballot as a constitutional principle is deeply connected with the enlargment of suffrage, while the measures with could effectively implement the principle are more stricly dependent upon the cultural, social and institutional factors of each country.
The three experiences considered, United Kingdom, France and Italy, are very different from each other. In the United Kingdom, the weight of a constitutional tradition of open ballot explains partly why the secret ballot has been introduced thirty years later than in France and Italy. Nonetheless these countries, and especially Italy knew enormous difficulties in implementing the principle of secret ballot at least until the I World War, essentially for cultural and social reason.