1886 Italian general election

Italian general election, 1886

23–30 May 1886
All 508 seats to the Chamber of Deputies of the Kingdom of Italy
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Agostino Depretis Antonio Starabba di Rudinì Felice Cavallotti Party Historical Left Historical Right The Extreme Seats won 292 142 45 Seat change 3 2 1 Percentage 57.5% 27.9% 8.8% Swing 0.7% 1.0% 0.2%
Prime Minister before election Agostino Depretis Historical Left Elected Prime Minister Agostino Depretis Historical Left

General elections were held in Italy on 23 May 1886, with a second round of voting on 30 May. The "ministerial" left-wing bloc emerged as the largest in Parliament, winning 292 of the 508 seats. As in 1882, the election was held using small multi-member constituencies with between two and five seats.

The race

The Historical Left was led by the Prime Minister of Italy, Agostino Depretis, a prominent member of the Italian politics for decades. Depretis had been head of the government since 1881 and also from 1876 to 1879.

The leader of the Historical Right was Antonio Starabba di Rudinì, a conservative marchese from Sicily.

The far-left group The Extreme was led by Felice Cavallotti, a famous Italian poet.

The Left emerged as the largest in Italian Parliament, winning 292 of the 508 seats, before the Right, which gained 145 seats. As in 1882, the election was held using small multi-member constituencies with between two and five seats.

Parties and leaders

Party		Ideology	Leader
bgcolor="Template:Historical Left/meta/color" |	Historical Left	Liberalism, Centrism	Agostino Depretis
bgcolor="Template:Historical Right/meta/color" |	Historical Right	Conservatism, Monarchism	Antonio Starabba di Rudinì
bgcolor="Template:The Extreme/meta/color" |	The Extreme	Radicalism, Socialism	Felice Cavallotti
bgcolor="Template:Dissident left-wing/meta/color" |	Dissident left-wing	Progressivism, Social liberalism	Giuseppe Zanardelli

Results

← Summary of May 1886 Chamber of Deputies election results →

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/−
bgcolor="Template:Historical Left/meta/color" |	Historical Left			292	+3
bgcolor="Template:Historical Right/meta/color" |	Historical Right			145	−2
bgcolor="Template:The Extreme/meta/color" |	The Extreme			45	+1
bgcolor="Template:Dissident left-wing/meta/color" |	Dissident left-wing			26	+7
Invalid/blank votes		16,729	–	–	–
Total		1,415,801	100	508	±0
Registered voters/turnout		2,420,327	58.5	–	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Parliamentary seats Historical Left   57.5% Historical Right   27.9% The Extreme   8.8% Dissident left-wing   5.1%