Italian general election, 1994

Italian general election, 1994

1992 ← 27 March 1994 → 1996

All 630 seats in the Italian Chamber of Deputies 316 seats were needed for a majority in the Chamber 315 (of the 326) seats in the Italian Senate   First party Second party   Leader Silvio Berlusconi Achille Occhetto Party Pole of Freedoms Alliance of Progressives Leader's seat Rome Centre Bologna West Last election New alliance New alliance Seats won 366 (H) 155 (S) 213 (H) 122 (S) Popular vote 17,746,612 12,632,680 Percentage 46.3% 34.5%

Prime Minister before election Carlo Azeglio Ciampi Prime Minister-designate Silvio Berlusconi Pole of Freedoms

An early national general election was held in Italy on March 27, 1994 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right alliance won handily the election for the Chamber and only narrowly lost that for the Senate.

The Berlusconi I Cabinet obtained a vote of confidence also in the Senate, thanks to the defection of four Senators of the Italian People's Party (Vittorio Cecchi Gori, Stefano Cusumano, Luigi Grillo and Tomaso Zanoletti), who decided not to participate in the vote.

The vote of the Senators for life was not decisive, as three (Gianni Agnelli, Francesco Cossiga and Giovanni Leone) voted in favour of the government, three were absent (Carlo Bo, Norberto Bobbio and Amintore Fanfani) and five voted against (Giulio Andreotti, Francesco De Martino, Giovanni Spadolini and Paolo Emilio Taviani and Leo Valiani).

The Senate finally gave Berlusconi 159 votes in favour and 153 against.

Electoral System

A new electoral system was introduced in these elections, after the abolition of the proportional representation established after the end of World War II, by a referendum in 1993.

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

Results

Chamber of Deputies

 Summary of the 27 March 1994 Italian Chamber of Deputies election results

Coalitions and parties		First past the post			Proportional representation					Total
		Votes	%	Seats	Parties in coalition
					Party	Votes	%	Seats	Total	Seats
	Pole of Freedoms and Pole of Good Government	18,200,270	46.1	302	Forza Italia-CCD	8,138,781	21.0	30	64	366
					National Alliance	5,214,133	13.5	23
					Lega Nord	3,235,248	8.4	11
					Pannella List	1,359,283	3.5	-
	Alliance of Progressives	12,722,157	33.0	164	Democratic Party of the Left	7,881,646	20.4	38	49	213
					Communist Refoundation Party	2,343,946	6.1	11
					Federation of the Greens	1,047,268	2.7	-
					Italian Socialist Party	849,429	2.2	-
					The Net	719,841	1.9	-
					Democratic Alliance	456,114	1.2	-
	Pact for Italy	6,019,038	15.6	4	Italian People’s Party	4,287,172	11.1	29	42	46
					Patto Segni	1,811,814	4.7	13
	Italian Democratic Socialist Party	219,819	0.6	-		179,495	0.5	-	-	-
	South Tyrolean People's Party	187,997	0.5	3		231,842	0.6	-	-	3
	Southern Action League	53,131	0.1	1		59,873	0.2	-	-	1
	Valdotanian Union	43,700	0.1	1		-	-	-	-	1

Senate

Summary of the 27 March 1994 Senate of Italy election results
Parties and coalitions		Results
		FPP			PR	Total
		Votes	%	Seats	Seats	Seats
	Pole of Freedoms	14,110,705	42.5%	128	28	156
	Alliance of Progressives	11,058,770	33.4%	97	26	123
	Pact for Italy	5,519,090	16.7%	3	28	31
	South Tyrolean People's Party	217,137	0.7%	3	-	3
	Vallée d'Aoste	27,493	0.1%	1	-	1
	Others	1,644,671	5.0%	-	-	-

External links

• (Italian) Minister of Internal Affairs of Italy: 1994 Election Results, Chamber of Deputies - uninominal (compressed ZIP file)
• (Italian) Ministry of Internal Affairs of Italy: 1994 Election Results, Chamber of Deputies - proportional
• (Italian) Minister of Internal Affairs of Italy: 1994 Election Results, Senate of the Republic

Preceded by 1992 general election

Italian general elections

Succeeded by 1996 general election