The first general election of Italian Republic were held the 18 April 1948. As a result, Socialist Unity, the political alliance formed by Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PDSI) and reformist socialist in union with PRI got the 7.07% of votes in elections for the Italian Chamber of Deputies and the 3.62% for Italian Senate participating to the 5th cabinet of Alcide De Gasperi with two ministers. For the first time in history of the young Italian republic the PCI and the PSI went to the opposition, while the socialdemocrat and moderated socialists joined the government. At the same time the CGIL were enforcing the links with the PCI, until arriving to the point of calling for a general strike against the De Gasperi cabinet because of the hurting of Palmiro Togliatti, PCI general secretary, in an attack on 14 July 1948. For all these reasons the 15 September 1948 a group of Catholic trade unionists, some Republicans and some Social Democrats, split from CGIL and founded a new union, initially called the "Free CGIL" ("Libera CGIL", LCIGL), later called the Italian Confederation of Workers' Trade Unions (CISL). CGIL remained the union of the communists, the socialists and the laic and reformist factions.