Italian general election, 1996

Italian general election, 1996

1994 ← 21 April 1996 → 2001

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 Romano Prodi Silvio Berlusconi Party The Olive Tree Pole for Freedoms Leader's seat Bologna East Milan Centre Last election 259 & 153 seats, 34.4% 273 & 114 seats, 42.8% Seats won 320 (H) 167 (S) 246 (H) 116 (S) Seat change +75 -25 Popular vote 16,924,099 15,095,436 Percentage 45.4% 43.2% Swing +11.0% +0.4%

Prime Minister before election Lamberto Dini Independent Prime Minister-designate Romano Prodi The Olive Tree

An early 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. The Olive Tree coalition leader Romano Prodi won the election, narrowly defeating Silvio Berlusconi, who led the Pole for Freedoms coalition.

For the election, the Lega Nord of Umberto Bossi ran alone, after having left the Berlusconi I Cabinet in 1994, causing a crisis who drove President of Italy 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.

Results

Chamber of Deputies

 Summary of the 21 April 1996 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
	The Olive Tree	15,758,981	45.7	247	Democratic Party of the Left	7,894,118	21.1	26	38	285
					PPI-SVP-PRI-UD-Prodi	2,554,072	6.8	4
					Dini List (RI-SI-Patto)	1,627,380	4.3	8
					Federation of the Greens	938,665	2.5	-
	Pole for Freedoms	15,027,030	43.2	169	Forza Italia	7,712,149	20.6	37	77	246
					National Alliance	5,870,491	15.7%	28
					CCD-CDU	2,189,563	5.8	12
	Lega Nord	4,038,239	10.8	39	Lega Nord	3,776,354	10.1	20	20	59
	Communist Refoundation Party Presented itself as Progressives	1,000,501	2.7	15	Communist Refoundation Party	3,213,748	8.6	20	20	35
	South Tyrolean People's Party	156,708	1.0	3	-	-	-	-	-	3
	Vallée d'Aoste	37,431	0.1	1	-	-	-	-	-	1
	Southern Action League	82,373	0.2	1	Southern Action League	72,062	0.2	-	-	1
	Pannella-Sgarbi List	69,406	0.2	-	Pannella-Sgarbi List	702,988	1.9	-	-	-
	Tricolour Flame	624,558	1.7	-	Tricolour Flame	339,351	0.9	-	-	-
	Sardinia Nation	42,245	0.1	-	Sardinia Nation	23,355	0.1	-	-	-
	Others	502,463	1.3	-	-	570,102	1.3	-	-	-

Senate

Summary of the 27 March 1994 Senate of Italy election results
Parties and coalitions		Results
		FPP			PR	Total
		Votes	%	Seats	Seats	Seats
	Olive Tree	13,444,977	41.2%	134	23	157
	Pole of Freedoms	12,185,020	37.3%	67	49	116
	Lega Nord	3,394,733	10.4%	18	9	27
	Communist Refoundation Party Presented itself as Progressives	940,655	2.9%	10	-	10
	South Tyrolean People's Party	178,425	0.5%	2	-	2
	Tricolour Flame	747,487	2.3%	-	1	1
	Pannella-Sgarbi List	509,826	1.6%	-	1	1
	Vallée d'Aoste	29,538	0.1%	1	-	1
	Others	1,193,923	3.7%	-	-	-

External links

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