Editing Mario Scelba (section)

==Early political career==
[[File:Mario Scelba 1946.jpg|thumb|180px|left|Mario Scelba in 1946]]
During the 1930s Scelba became a close friend of [[Alcide De Gasperi]], former leader of the People's Party after Sturzo's exile. Along with De Gasperi, he collaborated in the drafting of the "Reconstructive Ideas of Christian Democracy", the first programmatic document of the future party, which was published in July 1943. Scelba was part of the committee which led the new party, known as the DC, during the German occupation. He was also arrested by the Nazis but was released within three days.<ref name=tim220254/> After the [[liberation of Rome]] in June 1944, he joined the executive committee of the new party. In the interregional congress of the DC, held in [[Naples]] on 29 and 30 July 1944, Scelba was elected to the party's national council, which appointed De Gasperi as new [[List of Secretaries of Christian Democracy (Italy)|secretary]]. Scelba was instead appointed deputy secretary.<ref name=nyt311091>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE2DA1439F932A05753C1A967958260 Mario Scelba Dies at 90 in Rome; A Prime Minister in Postwar Italy], Obituary in ''The New York Times'', 31 October 1991</ref>

In September 1943, as a member of the DC, Scelba joined the [[National Liberation Committee]] (CLN), a political [[umbrella organization]] and the main representative of the [[Italian resistance movement]] fighting against the German occupation of Italy in the aftermath of the [[armistice of Cassibile]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.anpi.it/storia/140/comitato-di-liberazione-nazionale-cln |title=Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale – CLN |access-date=1 April 2020 |archive-date=28 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220128084947/https://www.anpi.it/storia/140/comitato-di-liberazione-nazionale-cln |url-status=dead }}</ref> On 21 June 1945, [[Ferruccio Parri]], leader of the [[Action Party (Italy)|Action Party]], became the new prime minister and appointed Scelba as [[Ministry of Communications (Italy)|Minister of Mails and Telecommunications]],<ref>[https://storia.camera.it/governi/i-governo-parri Governo Parri], camera.it</ref> a position that he would held until February 1947, even under the premiership of Alcide De Gasperi.<ref>[http://www.governo.it/it/i-governi-dal-1943-ad-oggi/ordinamento-provvisorio-25-luglio-1943-23-maggio-1948-assemblea-3 Governo De Gasperi I], governo.it</ref>

On 25 September 1945 Scelba was appointed to the [[National Council (Italy)|National Council]], the unelected legislative assembly established in the [[Kingdom of Italy]] after the end of the war.<ref>[https://storia.camera.it/legislature/sistema-consulta-non-elettiva-1945#nav Storia della Camera – Consulta Nazionale], camera.it</ref> In the [[1946 Italian general election]], Scelba was elected in the [[Constituent Assembly of Italy|Constituent Assembly]] for the constituency of [[Catania–Messina–Siracusa–Ragusa–Enna constituency (1946–1994)|Catania–Messina–Siracusa–Ragusa–Enna]] with nearly 40,000 votes.<ref>[https://elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/index.php?tpel=A&dtel=02/06/1946&tpa=I&tpe=I&lev0=0&levsut0=0&lev1=29&levsut1=1&ne1=29&es0=S&es1=S&ms=S Elezioni del 1946 – Collegio di Catania–Messina–Siracusa–Ragusa–Enna], Ministero dell'Interno</ref>