in the DC. He favoured more social reforms and public works, attacking speculators for pushing up prices. "It is virtually impossible," he once said, "to be Minister of Interior for a government that does not care if the people work or not." Scelba emphasized the possibility of undermining communist strength "by determined measures of social and economic improvement, like a land reform of the great estates in Southern Italy, for example." While in office, he was also involved in setting up the Gladio network, the clandestine NATO "stay-behind" operation in Italy after World War II, intended to organise resistance after a Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe. 1953 election The 1953 general election was characterised by changes in the electoral law. Even if the general structure remained uncorrupted, the government introduced a superbonus of two thirds of seats in the House for the coalition which would obtain at-large the absolute majority of votes. The change was strongly opposed by the opposition parties as well as DC's smaller coalition partners, who had no realistic chance of success under this system. The new law was called the Scam Law by its detractors, including some dissidents of minor government parties who founded special opposition groups to deny the artificial landslide to Christian Democracy. The campaign of the opposition to the "Scam Law" achieved its goal. The government coalition won 49.9% of national vote, just a few thousand votes of the threshold for a supermajority, resulting in an ordinary proportional distribution of the seats. Technically, the government won the election, winning a clear working majority of seats in both houses. But frustration with the failure to win a supermajority caused significant tensions in the leading coalition. De Gasperi was forced to resign by the Parliament on 2 August. On 17 August, President Einaudi appointed Pella as new Prime Minister. Prime Minister of Italy Pella's government lasted only five months, and in January 1954, Fanfani became the new Prime Minister. However, he was forced to resign after only 23 days in power, and then President Luigi Einaudi gave Scelba the task of forming a new cabinet. On 10 February, he sworn in as new Prime Minister at the head of a centrist coalition government composed by DC, Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI) and Italian Liberal Party (PLI). During his premiership, he built strong relations with the United States and NATO and resolved many wartime issues