The 1906 San Marino citizenry meeting was a session of the

Arengo The Arengo was the name of the assembly that ruled San Marino from the fifth century A.D. to 1243, and of the popular councils which regulated the political life in Northern Italy free ''comuni'' in the Middle Ages as well. It was made up of the h ...

(assembly of all

household A household consists of one or more persons who live in the same dwelling. It may be of a single family or another type of person group. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many social, microeconomic and government models, and is im ...

ers) in

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

. It was the first such meeting in three centuries. It ended

oligarchic Oligarchy (; ) is a form of government in which power rests with a small number of people. Members of this group, called oligarchs, generally hold usually hard, but sometimes soft power through nobility, fame, wealth, or education; or throug ...

rule and resulted in the first modern democratic elections in the country. Since the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, the Meeting (''

'' in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

) had been declared the supreme authority of the Republic. However, during the 17th century, the Meeting created the Princely and Sovereign Council to rule the country. The Council itself refused for centuries to convene the Meeting, passing a law introducing the

co-option Co-option, also known as co-optation and sometimes spelt cooption or cooptation, is a term with three common meanings. It may refer to: 1) The process of adding members to an elite Social group, group at the discretion of members of the body, us ...

of its members, so as to become fully independent. At the beginning of the 20th century, the

Sammarinese Socialist Party The Sammarinese Socialist Party (, PSS) was a socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of ...

called for the restoration of democracy in the country. After some delays, the Meeting was summoned on 25 March 1906 in the main

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

. Householders were asked whether the system of

of councillors for life should continue,San Marino, 25 March 1906: Councils as previously chosen by co-option for life
Direct Democracy and whether the size of councils should be proportionate to the population of the communities they represented.San Marino, 25 March 1906: Councils in proportion to the population of the communities selected
Direct Democracy The first proposal was rejected by 90.65% of voters, and the second was approved by 94.89%. Consequently, the first-ever elections in the country were held on 10 June 1906.

Results

Maintaining the co-optation

''Do you want to maintain the oligarchic co-optation of the Council?''

Council apportionment

''Do you want to equally divide the council seats between the city and the countryside?''

References

{{Sammarinese elections 1906 referendums Referendums in San Marino 1906 in San Marino