Italian general election, 1996

Italian general election, 1996
	21 April 1996
	21 April 1996
All 630 seats in the Italian Chamber of Deputies ; 315 seats in the Italian Senate
Turnout	82.88%
	Election results maps for the Chamber of Deputies (on the left) and for the Senate (on the right). On the left, the color identifies the coalition which received the most votes in each province. On the right, the color identifies the coalition which won the most seats in respect to each Region. Red the Centre-left coalition, Blue denotes the Centre-right coalition, Green denotes Lega Nord and Gray regional parties.
Prime Minister before election; Lamberto Dini; Independent	Elected Prime Minister ; Romano Prodi; The Olive Tree

A snap national general election was held in Italy on 21 April 1996 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic. Romano Prodi, leader of the centre-left coalition The Olive Tree, won the election, narrowly defeating Silvio Berlusconi, who led the Pole for Freedoms centre-right coalition.

For the election, the Northern League of Umberto Bossi ran alone, after having left the Berlusconi I Cabinet in 1994, causing a crisis which drove President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro to appoint a technocratic cabinet led by Lamberto Dini, which in turn lost its Parliamentary support in 1995, forcing Scalfaro to dissolve the Italian Parliament. The Communist Refoundation Party, led by Fausto Bertinotti, instead made a pre-electoral alliance with The Olive Tree, presenting its own candidates, supported by Prodi's coalition, mainly in some safe leftist constituencies, in exchange for supporting Olive Tree candidates on the other ones, and ensuring external support for a Prodi government.

Electoral system

The intricate electoral system of Italy, nicknamed as Mattarellum (after Sergio Mattarella, who was the official proponent), provided a 75% of the seats on the Chamber of Deputies (the Lower House) as elected by a plurality voting system, whereas the remaining 25% was assigned by proportional representation with a minimum threshold of 4%. If possible, the method associate on the Senate was even more complicated: 75% of seats by uninominal method, and 25% by a special proportional method that actually assigned the remaining seats to minority parties.

General election

Background

In December 1994, following the communication of a new investigation from Milan magistrates that was leaked to the press, Umberto Bossi, leader of the Northern League, left the coalition claiming that the electoral pact had not been respected, forcing Berlusconi to resign from office and shifting the majority's weight to the centre-left side. The Northern League also resented the fact that many of its MPs had switched to Forza Italia, allegedly lured by promises of more prestigious portfolios.

Berlusconi remained as caretaker prime minister for a little over a month until his replacement by a technocratic government headed by Lamberto Dini. Dini had been a key minister in the Berlusconi cabinet, and Berlusconi said the only way he would support a technocratic government would be if Dini headed it. In the end, however, Dini was only supported by most opposition parties but not by Forza Italia and Northern League.

In December 1995 Dini resigned as Prime Minister and the President of the Republic, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, decided to begin consultations to form a government, substained by all the parties in the Parliament to make constitutional reforms. Favourably to this proposal sided both, in a TV debate on 19 January 1996, Silvio Berlusconi and Democratic Party of the Left leader Massimo D'Alema. Although there were many problems on this theme in both coalition: in fact Gianfranco Fini and Romano Prodi wanted a snap election, not sure that the reforms would be helpful for the country. On 16 February 1996, a snap election was called.

Campaign

On 19 February 1996, the outgoing Prime Minister Lamberto Dini announced that he would run in the election with a new party allied with The Olive Tree rather than Berlusconi's Pole of Freedoms. Shortly after Berlusconi claimed that Dini "copied our electoral programme".^[1]

Another important declaration was Umberto Bossi's one: the leader of the regionalist Northern League, which was very important in 1994 to help Berlusconi winning the election, said that his party would not support Berlusconi anymore and run alone in the election. At the same time, Prodi's coalition made an important pre-electoral agreement with Communist Refoundation Party in which Fausto Bertinotti's party undertook to support Prodi's government after the election in the case of a no-majority Parliament.

On 25 March 1996, Berlusconi organised a great manifestation in Milan against taxes (The Tax Day) attended by lot of Milanese artisans; on the same day, in Turin, Prodi was heavily contested during his electoral speech and accused of not wanting to lower taxes.^[2]

Main coalitions and parties

	Party		Main ideology	Leader
The Olive Tree		Democratic Party of the Left (PDS)	Democratic socialism	Massimo D'Alema
	Populars for Prodi (PP)	Christian democracy	Franco Marini
	Italian Renewal (RI)	Liberalism	Lamberto Dini
	Federation of the Greens (FdV)	Green politics	Franco Corleone
	Italian Socialists (SI)	Social democracy	Enrico Boselli
	Democratic Union (UD)	Social liberalism	Antonio Maccanico
	The Network (LR)	Christian left	Leoluca Orlando
Pole for Freedoms		Forza Italia (FI)	Liberal conservatism	Silvio Berlusconi
		National Alliance (AN)	Conservatism	Gianfranco Fini
		Christian Democratic Centre (CCD)	Christian democracy	Pier Ferdinando Casini
		United Christian Democrats (CDU)	Christian democracy	Rocco Buttiglione
Northern League (LN)			Regionalism	Umberto Bossi
Communist Refoundation Party (PRC)			Communism	Fausto Bertinotti
Pannella–Sgarbi List (LPS)			Liberalism	Marco Pannella

Main leaders

	Name	Most recent position
The Olive Tree	Romano Prodi	Minister of Industry, Commerce and Manufacturing (1978–1979) Leader of the Olive Tree (1995–incumbent)
Pole for Freedoms	Silvio Berlusconi	Prime Minister of Italy (1994–1995) President of Forza Italia (1994–incumbent)
Northern League	Umberto Bossi	Federal Secretary of Northern League (1989–incumbent)
Communist Refoundation Party	Fausto Bertinotti	Secretary of the Communist Refoundation Party (1993–incumbent)
Pannella–Sgarbi List	Marco Pannella	Leader of Pannella List (1992–incumbent)

Results for the Chamber of Deputies

Overall results

← Summary of the 21 April 1996 Chamber of Deputies election results →
Coalition		Party		Proportional			First-past-the-post			Total seats	+/–

Coalition		Party		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats	+/–
	The Olive Tree		Democratic Party of the Left (PDS)	7,894,118	21.06	26	15,747,455	42.01	146	172^[3]	+48
			Populars for Prodi (PPI–UD–PRI–SVP)	2,554,072	6.81	4			65	69^[4]	+18
			Italian Renewal (incl. PS and SI)	1,627,380	4.34	8			18	26^[5]	New
			Federation of the Greens (FdV)	938,665	2.50	0			14	14	+3
			The Network (LR)	N/A	N/A	0			3	3	−5
			Ladin Autonomist Union (UAL)	N/A	N/A	0			1	1	+1
		Total seats				38			247	285	–
	Pole for Freedoms		Forza Italia (FI)	7,712,149	20.57	37	15,027,030	40.08	86	123^[6]	−9
			National Alliance (AN)	5,870,491	15.66	28			65	93	−17
			CCD – CDU	2,189,563	5.84	12			28	30^[7]	–
		Total seats				77			169	246	–
	Northern League (LN)	3,776,354	10.07	20	4,038,239	10.77	39	59	−59
	Communist Refoundation Party (PRC)			3,213,748	8.57	20	982,505	2.62	15	35	−3
	South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)			N/A	N/A	0	156,708	0.42	3	3	±0
	Southern Action League (LAM)			72,062	0.19	0	82,373	0.22	1	1	±0
	Aosta Valley (VdA)			N/A	N/A	0	37,431	0.10	1	1	±0
Total										630	–

Proportional

Party		%	Votes	Seats
	Democratic Party of the Left	21.06	7,894,118	26
	Forza Italia	20.57	7,712,149	37
	National Alliance	15.66	5,870,491	28
	Northern League	10.07	3,776,354	20
	Communist Refoundation Party	8.57	3,213,748	20
	Populars for Prodi (PPI–UD–PRI–SVP)	6.81	2,554,072	4
	Christian Democratic Centre–United Christian Democrats	5.84	2,189,563	12
	Italian Renewal	4.34	1,627,380	8
	Federation of the Greens	2.50	938,665	0
	Pannella-Sgarbi List	1.88	702,988	0
	Tricolour Flame	0.91	339,351	0
	Socialist Party	0.40	149,441	0
	Southern Action League	0.19	72,062	0
	North-East Union	0.17	63,934	0
	Union for South Tyrol	0.15	55,548	0
	Clean Hands	0.12	44,935	0
	We the Sicilians – National Sicilian Front	0.11	41,001	0
	Sardinian Action Party	0.10	38,002	0
	Others	0.54	200,596	0
Total		100.00	37,484,398	155
Invalid/blank/unassigned votes		–	2,917,376	–
Total		–	40,401,774	–
Registered voters/turnout		82.88%	48,744,846	–
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Popular vote (Proportional)

PDS			21.06%
FI			20.57%
AN			15.66%
LN			10.07%
PRC			8.57%
Populars			6.81%
CCD-CDU			5.84%
RI			4.34%
FdV			2.50%
LP			1.88%
Others			2.68%

First-past-the-post

Parties and coalitions		%	Votes	Seats
	Pole for Freedoms	40.09	15,027,030	169
	The Olive Tree	38.54	14,447,548	228
	Northern League	10.77	4,038,239	39
	The Olive Tree–Lega Autonomia Veneta	2.66	997,534	14
	Progressives	2.62	982,505	15
	Tricolour Flame	1.67	624,558	0
	The Olive Tree–Sardinian Action Party	0.72	269,047	4
	South Tyrolean People's Party	0.42	156,708	3
	Southern Action League	0.22	82,373	1
	Pannella-Sgarbi List	0.19	69,406	0
	Clean Hands	0.18	68,443	0
	Socialist Party	0.12	44,786	0
	Sardinia Nation	0.11	42,246	0
	Aosta Valley	0.10	37,431	1
	Others	1.59	407,255	1
Total		100.00	37,295,109	475

Popular vote (First-past-the-post)

Ulivo			41.92%
PpL			40.09%
LN			10.77%
Prog.			2.62%
FT			1.67%
Others			3.65%

Results for the Senate of the Republic

← Summary of the 21 April 1996 Senate of the Republic election results →
Coalition		Party		First-past-the-post			Proportional (Seats)	Total seats	+/–

Coalition		Party		Votes	%	Seats	Proportional (Seats)	Total seats	+/–
	The Olive Tree		Democratic Party of the Left (PDS)	13,434,607	41.18	134	23	102^[8]	+26
		Italian People's Party (PPI)	27					−4
		Federation of the Greens (FdV)	14					+7
		Italian Renewal (RI)	11^[9]					New
		The Network (LR)	1					−5
		Lega Autonomia Veneta (LAV)	1					+1
		Sardinian Action Party (PSd'Az)	1					+1
	Total seats						157	–
	Pole for Freedoms		Forza Italia (FI)	12,185,020	37.35	67	49	48^[10]	+13
			National Alliance (AN)					43	−4
			Christian Democratic Centre (CCD)					15	+3
			United Christian Democrats (CDU)					10	New
		Total seats						116	–
	Northern League (LN)			3,394,733	10.41	18	9	27	−33
	Progressives			934,974	2.87	10	0	10	−8
	The Fir–SVP–PATT			178,425	0.55	2	0	2	−1
	Tricolour Flame (FT)			747,487	2.29	0	1	1	New
	Pannella-Sgarbi List			509,826	1.56	0	1	1	±0
	Aosta Valley (VdA)			27,493	0.08	1	0	1	±0
	Socialist Party (PS)			286,426	0.88	0	0	0	New
	Clean Hands			109,113	0.33	0	0	0	New
	League for Autonomy – Lombard Alliance			106,313	0.33	0	0	0	−1
	North-East Union (UNE)			72,541	0.22	0	0	0	New
	We the Sicilians – National Sicilian Front			71,841	0.22	0	0	0	±0
	Southern Action League (LAM)			66,750	0.20	0	0	0	±0
	Greens Greens (VV)			61,434	0.19	0	0	0	±0
	Pensioners' Party (PP)			60,640	0.19	0	0	0	±0
	Social Democracy			60,016	0.18	0	0	0	New
	Sardinia Nation (SN)			44,713	0.14	0	0	0	±0
	Others			270,188	0.81	0	0	0	–
Total				32,624,584	100.00	232	83	315	–

Popular vote

Ulivo			39.89%
PpL			37.35%
LN			10.41%
Prog.			2.87%
FT			2.29%
Others			7.19%

Results

On election day, Prodi's Olive Tree coalition won over Berlusconi's Pole for Freedoms, becoming the first coalition composed by a post-communist party to win general election since the Second World War. In the Senate The Olive Tree obtained the majority, but in the Chamber it required the external support of Communist Refoundation Party.

Leaders' races

General Election 1996: Bologna East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	The Olive Tree	Romano Prodi	55,830	60.8
	Pole for Freedoms	Filippo Berselli	35,972	39.2
Majority			19,858	21.6
Turnout			95,948	92.3

General Election 1996: Milan Centre
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Pole for Freedoms	Silvio Berlusconi	46,098	51.5
	The Olive Tree	Michele Salvati	32,464	36.3
	Northern League	Umberto Bossi	10,179	11.4
	Independent	Camillo Comelli	766	0.8
Majority			13,634	15.2
Turnout			92,969	82.6

References

↑
↑
↑ Including 8 deputies of the Movement of Unitarian Communists (MCU), 6 deputies of the Labour Federation (FL), 5 deputies of the Social Christians (CS), one deputy of the Republican Left (SR) and one deputy of the Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI)
↑ Including 5 deputies of the Democratic Union (UD) and 2 deputies of the Italian Republican Party (PRI)
↑ Including 8 deputies of Segni Pact (PS), 7 deputies of the Italian Socialists (SI) and one deputy of the Democratic Italian Movement (MID)
↑ Including 3 deputies of the Union of the Centre (UdC)
↑ 19 deputies of CCD and 11 deputies of CDU
↑ Including 5 senators of the Labour Federation (FL) and 4 senators of the Social Christians (CS)
↑ Including 5 senators of the Italian Socialists (SI), one senator of Segni Pact (PS) and one senator of the Democratic Italian Movement (MID)
↑ Including 2 senators of the Union of the Centre (UdC)

External links

(in Italian) Minister of Internal Affairs of Italy: 1996 Election Results, Chamber of Deputies (compressed ZIP file)
(in Italian) Minister of Internal Affairs of Italy: 1996 Election Results, Senate of the Republic (compressed ZIP file)

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] ↑

[2] ↑

[3] Including 8 deputies of the Movement of Unitarian Communists (MCU), 6 deputies of the Labour Federation (FL), 5 deputies of the Social Christians (CS), one deputy of the Republican Left (SR) and one deputy of the Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI)

[4] Including 5 deputies of the Democratic Union (UD) and 2 deputies of the Italian Republican Party (PRI)

[5] Including 8 deputies of Segni Pact (PS), 7 deputies of the Italian Socialists (SI) and one deputy of the Democratic Italian Movement (MID)

[6] Including 3 deputies of the Union of the Centre (UdC)

[7] 19 deputies of CCD and 11 deputies of CDU

[8] Including 5 senators of the Labour Federation (FL) and 4 senators of the Social Christians (CS)

[9] Including 5 senators of the Italian Socialists (SI), one senator of Segni Pact (PS) and one senator of the Democratic Italian Movement (MID)

[10] Including 2 senators of the Union of the Centre (UdC)

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