1994 Italian general election
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All 630 seats in the Italian Chamber of Deputies 315 seats in the Italian Senate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 86.3% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 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. Blue denotes the Centre-right coalition, Red the Progressives and Gray regional parties. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A snap 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 a large majority in the Chamber, but just missed winning a majority in the Senate. The Italian People's Party, the renamed Christian Democrats, which had dominated Italian politics for almost half a century, was decimated. It took only 29 seats versus 206 for the DC two years earlier-easily the worst defeat a sitting government in Italy has ever suffered, and one of the worst ever suffered by a Western European governing party.
New 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.
Historical background
In 1992, the five pro-western governing parties, Christian Democracy, the Italian Socialist Party, the Italian Social-Democratic Party, the Italian Republican Party and the Italian Liberal Party, lost much of their electoral strength almost overnight due to a large number of judicial investigations concerning the financial corruption of many of their foremost members. This led to a general expectation that upcoming elections would be won by the Democratic Party of the Left, the heirs to the former Italian Communist Party, and their Alliance of Progressives coalition unless there was an alternative.
On 26 January 1994, the media magnate Silvio Berlusconi announced his decision to enter politics, ("enter the field", in his own words) presenting his own political party, Forza Italia, on a platform focused on defeating the Communists. His political aim was to convince the voters of the Pentapartito, (i.e. the usual five governing parties) who were shocked and confused by Mani Pulite scandals, that Forza Italia offered both novelty and the continuation of the pro-western free market policies followed by Italy since the end of the 2nd World War.
Shortly after he decided to enter the political arena, investigators into the Mani Pulite affair were said to be close to issuing warrants for the arrest of Berlusconi and senior executives of his business group. During his years of political career Berlusconi has repeatedly stated that the Mani Pulite investigations were led by communist prosecutors who wanted to establish a soviet-style government in Italy.[1][2]
In order to win the election Berlusconi formed two separate electoral alliances: Pole of Freedoms (Polo delle Libertà) with the Northern League (Lega Nord) in northern Italian districts, and another, the Pole of Good Government (Polo del Buon Governo), with the post-fascist National Alliance (Alleanza Nazionale; heir to the Italian Social Movement) in central and southern regions.[3] In a shrewd pragmatic move, he did not ally with the latter in the North because the League disliked them. As a result, Forza Italia was allied with two parties that were not allied with each other.
Berlusconi launched a massive campaign of electoral advertisements on his three TV networks. He subsequently won the elections, with Forza Italia garnering 21% of the popular vote, the highest percentage of any single party.[4] One of the most significant promises that he made in order to secure victory was that his government would create "one million more jobs".
On the other side, the center-left Alliance of Progressive led by Achille Occhetto, also called the Joyful War Machine, was composed by the two party born from the dissolution of the Italian Communist Party: the Democratic Party of the Left and Communist Refoundation Party. Since the alliance was sure of victory, based his campaign accusing the communicative power of Silvio Berlusconi.
Parties and leaders
Coalitions and electoral list
Main leaders
| Coalition | Portrait | Name | Most recent position | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| bgcolor="Template:Pole of Freedoms/meta/color" | | Pole of Freedoms – Pole of Good Government | 
|
Silvio Berlusconi | President of Forza Italia (1994–incumbent) |
| bgcolor="Template:Alliance of Progressives/meta/color" | | Alliance of Progressives | 
|
Achille Occhetto | Secretary of the Democratic Party of the Left (1991–incumbent) |
| bgcolor="Template:Segni Pact/meta/color" | | Pact for Italy | 
|
Mariotto Segni | Leader of Segni Pact (1993–incumbent) |
Results for the Chamber of Deputies
Overall results
 | |||||||||||
| Coalition | Party | Proportional | First-past-the-post | Total seats |
+/– | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | ||||||
| rowspan="5" bgcolor="Template:Pole of Freedoms/meta/color"| | Pole of Freedoms – Pole of Good Government |
bgcolor="Template:Forza Italia/meta/color" | | Forza Italia–CCD (FI–CCD) | 8,136,135 | 21.01 | 30 | 18,179,279 | 47.21 | 102 | 132[5] | New |
| bgcolor="Template:Lega Nord/meta/color" | | Northern League (LN) | 3,235,248 | 8.36 | 11 | 107 | 118 | +63 | ||||
| bgcolor="Template:National Alliance (Italy)/meta/color" | | National Alliance (AN) | 5,214,133 | 13.47 | 23 | 87 | 110 | +76 | ||||
| Pannella List (LP) | 1,359,283 | 3.51 | 0 | 6 | 6 | −1 | |||||
| Total seats | 64 | 302 | 366 | – | |||||||
| rowspan="7" style="background:Template:Alliance of Progressives/meta/color;"| | Alliance of Progressives | bgcolor="Template:Democratic Party of the Left/meta/color" | | Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) | 7,881,646 | 20.36 | 38 | 12.632,680 | 32.81 | 86 | 124[6] | +17 |
| bgcolor="Template:Communist Refoundation Party/meta/color" | | Communist Refoundation Party (PRC) | 2,343,946 | 6.05 | 11 | 27 | 38 | +3 | ||||
| Democratic Alliance (AD) | 456,114 | 1.18 | 0 | 18 | 18[7] | New | |||||
| bgcolor="Template:Italian Socialist Party/meta/color" | | Italian Socialist Party (PSI) | 849,429 | 2.19 | 0 | 14 | 14 | −78 | ||||
| bgcolor="Template:Federation of the Greens/meta/color" | | Federation of the Greens (FdV) | 1,047,268 | 2.70 | 0 | 11 | 11 | −5 | ||||
| The Network (LR) | 719,841 | 1.86 | 0 | 8 | 8 | −4 | |||||
| Total seats | 49 | 164 | 213 | – | |||||||
| Pact for Italy | bgcolor="Template:Italian People's Party (1994)/meta/color" | | Italian People's Party (PPI) | 4,287,172 | 11.07 | 29 | 6,019,038 | 15.63 | 4 | 33 | −173 | |
| bgcolor="Template:Patto Segni/meta/color" | | Segni Pact (PS) | 1,811,814 | 4.68 | 13 | 0 | 13 | New | ||||
| Total seats | 42 | 4 | 46 | – | |||||||
| South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP) | 231,842 | 0.60 | 0 | 188,017 | 0.49 | 3 | 3 | ±0 | |||
| Southern Action League (LAM) | 59,873 | 0.15 | 0 | 46,820 | 0.13 | 1 | 1 | +1 | |||
| Aosta Valley (VdA) | — | — | 0 | 43,700 | 0.11 | 1 | 1 | ±0 | |||
| Total | 630 | – | |||||||||
Proportional
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| bgcolor="Template:Forza Italia/meta/color" | | Forza Italia | 8,136,135 | 21.01 | 30 |
| bgcolor="Template:Democratic Party of the Left/meta/color"| | Democratic Party of the Left | 7,881,646 | 20.36 | 38 |
| bgcolor="Template:National Alliance (Italy)/meta/color"| | National Alliance | 5,214,133 | 13.47 | 23 |
| bgcolor="Template:Italian People's Party (1994)/meta/color" | | Italian People's Party | 4,287,172 | 11.07 | 29 |
| bgcolor="Template:Lega Nord/meta/color"| | Northern League | 3,235,248 | 8.36 | 11 |
| bgcolor="Template:Communist Refoundation Party/meta/color" | | Communist Refoundation Party | 2,343,946 | 6.05 | 11 |
| bgcolor="Template:Segni Pact/meta/color" | | Segni Pact | 1,811,814 | 4.68 | 13 |
| Pannella List | 1,359,283 | 3.51 | 0 | |
| bgcolor="Template:Federation of the Greens/meta/color" | | Federation of the Greens | 1,047,268 | 2.70 | 0 |
| bgcolor="Template:Italian Socialist Party/meta/color"| | Italian Socialist Party | 849,429 | 2.19 | 0 |
| The Network | 719,841 | 1.86 | 0 | |
| Democratic Alliance | 456,114 | 1.18 | 0 | |
| South Tyrolean People's Party | 231,842 | 0.60 | 0 | |
| Social Democracy for Freedoms | 179,495 | 0.46 | 0 | |
| Program Italy | 151,328 | 0.39 | 0 | |
| Lega Alpina Lumbarda | 136,782 | 0.35 | 0 | |
| Lega Autonomia Veneta | 103,764 | 0.27 | 0 | |
| Southern Action League | 59,873 | 0.15 | 0 | |
| Popular Unity | 36,343 | 0.09 | 0 | |
| Greens Greens | 32,832 | 0.08 | 0 | |
| Solidarity Occupation Development | 32,653 | 0.08 | 0 | |
| Natural Law Party | 24,554 | 0.06 | 0 | |
| Sardinia Nation | 24,043 | 0.06 | 0 | |
| Italian Democratic Union | 20,227 | 0.05 | 0 | |
| Christians and Reformers Union | 15,844 | 0.04 | 0 | |
| bgcolor="Template:Pensioners' Party (Italy)/meta/color" | | Pensioners' Party | 15,671 | 0.04 | 0 |
| The League of Angela Bossi | 15,234 | 0.04 | 0 | |
| League for Piedmont | 15,118 | 0.04 | 0 | |
| Southern Alliance | 14,993 | 0.04 | 0 | |
| ADA | 12,898 | 0.03 | 0 | |
| Popular Alliance | 12,827 | 0.03 | 0 | |
| The Ark | 12,053 | 0.03 | 0 | |
| Salentinian Rebirth | 11,479 | 0.03 | 0 | |
| Initiative of the Popular Democrats | 11,247 | 0.03 | 0 | |
| Christian Democratic Movement | 11,036 | 0.03 | 0 | |
| Solidarity and Progress | 10,310 | 0.03 | 0 | |
| Together for the Development | 10,282 | 0.03 | 0 | |
| Franco Greco List | 10,241 | 0.03 | 0 | |
| Socialist Rebirth | 10,070 | 0.03 | 0 | |
| Democracy and Solidarity | 9,546 | 0.02 | 0 | |
| Mediterranean Union | 9,079 | 0.02 | 0 | |
| Southern Movement | 8,700 | 0.02 | 0 | |
| Sicilian Democracy | 8,584 | 0.02 | 0 | |
| Catholic Democratic Movement | 8,348 | 0.02 | 0 | |
| Irpinian Reformers | 8,338 | 0.02 | 0 | |
| Democratic Party | 7,675 | 0.02 | 0 | |
| Popular Union | 7,673 | 0.02 | 0 | |
| Alliance Municipality | 7,432 | 0.02 | 0 | |
| Utopia | 6,951 | 0.02 | 0 | |
| Republican Movement | 6,616 | 0.02 | 0 | |
| Christian Movement Veritas | 6,404 | 0.02 | 0 | |
| Renewal | 6,000 | 0.02 | 0 | |
| Democratic Renaissance | 5,600 | 0.01 | 0 | |
| Democratic Centre | 4,911 | 0.01 | 0 | |
| European Liberal Democrats | 4,633 | 0.01 | 0 | |
| Together for Change | 4,588 | 0.01 | 0 | |
| Progressive People's Party of Christian Inspiration | 4,554 | 0.01 | 0 | |
| Mediterraneo | 3,867 | 0.01 | 0 | |
| Liberal Democrats and Socialists | 3,429 | 0.01 | 0 | |
| Christian People's Movement | 3,390 | 0.01 | 0 | |
| Alliance of Program | 3,388 | 0.01 | 0 | |
| Liberal Christian European Movement | 2,745 | 0.01 | 0 | |
| Alliance for the Castles | 2,737 | 0.01 | 0 | |
| Socialist Autonomy | 2,720 | 0.01 | 0 | |
| Idea City | 2,695 | 0.01 | 0 | |
| Christian Democratic Centre | 2,646 | 0.01 | 0 | |
| Democracy and Renewal | 2,576 | 0.01 | 0 | |
| Total | 38,720,893 | 100.00 | 155 | |
First-past-the-post
| Parties and coalitions | Votes | % | Seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| bgcolor="Template:Alliance of Progressive/meta/color" | | Alliance of Progressives | 12.632,680 | 32.81 | 164 |
| bgcolor="Template:Pole of Freedoms/meta/color" | | Pole of Freedoms | 8,767,720 | 22.77 | 164 |
| Pact for Italy | 6,019,038 | 15.63 | 4 | |
| bgcolor="Template:Pole of Freedoms/meta/color" | | Pole of Good Government | 5,732,890 | 14.89 | 129 |
| bgcolor="Template:National Alliance (Italy)/meta/color" | | National Alliance | 2,566,848 | 6.67 | 8 |
| bgcolor="Template:Forza Italia/meta/color" | | Forza Italia | 679,154 | 1.76 | 1 |
| Pannella List | 432,667 | 1.12 | 0 | |
| South Tyrolean People's Party | 188,017 | 0.49 | 3 | |
| Social Democracy for the Freedoms | 147,493 | 0.38 | 0 | |
| Southern Action League | 46,820 | 0.13 | 1 | |
| Aosta Valley | 43,700 | 0.11 | 1 | |
| bgcolor="Template:Other/meta/color" | | Others | 1,247,131 | 3.24 | 0 |
| Total | 38,504,158 | 100.00 | 475 | |
Results for the Senate of the Republic
Results
On election day, Berlusconi's coalition won a decisive victory over Occhetto's one, becoming the first center-right coalition to win general election since the Second World War. In the popular vote, Berlusconi's coalition outpolled the Alliance of Progressive by over 5.1 million votes. Pole of Freedoms won in the main regions of Italy: in the North the strongest parties were the regionalist Lega Nord and Forza Italia, which was able to win in all province of Sicily, while in the South National Alliance received more votes. Alliance of Progressive reconfirmed itself in the ex-communist regions in the Center and in the South.
Instead of it had done in the Chamber, Pole of Freedoms failed in winning a majority in the Senate. Although, the Berlusconi I Cabinet obtained a vote of confidence also in the Senate, thanks to the defection of four PPI senators (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.[12]
Close regions
Regions where coalition's margin of victory < 5% for the Chamber
- Molise, 1.5%
- Campania, 2.1%
- Lazio, 2.5%
- Liguria, 3.6%
Leaders' races
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pole of Freedoms | Silvio Berlusconi | 34,534 | 46.3 | ||
| Alliance of Progressive | Luigi Spaventa | 29,914 | 40.1 | ||
| Patto Segni | Alberto Michelini | 9,566 | 12.8 | ||
| Independent | Mirella Cece | 593 | 0.8 | ||
| Majority | 4,620 | 6.2 | |||
| Turnout | 77,562 | 77.2 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alliance of Progressive | Achille Occhetto | 52,997 | 59.8 | ||
| Pole of Freedoms | Pier Ferdinando Casini | 17,925 | 20.2 | ||
| National Alliance | Anselmo Ruocco | 7,388 | 8.3 | ||
| Patto Segni | Maria Gualandi | 7,133 | 8.0 | ||
| Independent | Oliviero Toscani | 3,225 | 3.6 | ||
| Majority | 35,072 | 39.6 | |||
| Turnout | 91,571 | 95.0 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pole of Freedoms | Carmelo Porcu | 30,623 | 36.1 | ||
| Patto Segni | Mariotto Segni | 26,776 | 31.6 | ||
| Alliance of Progressive | Gavino Angius | 17,570 | 20.7 | ||
| Independent | Giacomo Spissu | 6,952 | 8.2 | ||
| Independent | Gavino Sale | 1,185 | 1.4 | ||
| Independent | Giovanni Conoci | 966 | 1.1 | ||
| Independent | Gianuario Pedoni | 664 | 0.8 | ||
| Majority | 3,847 | 4.5 | |||
| Turnout | 89,504 | 86.0 | |||
Further reading
- Carter, Nick (1998). Italy: The Demise of Post-War Partyocracy. State University of New York Press. pp. 71–94.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - Diamanti, Ilvo; Mannheimer, Renato, eds. (1994). Milano a Roma: guida all'Italia elettorale del 1994. Donzelli.
- Parker, Simon (1996). Electoral reform and political change in Italy, 1991–1994. Routledge. pp. 40–56.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help)
References
- ^ "As Italy Votes, Golden Career Of Berlusconi Is at Crossroads". Wall Street Journal. 30 March 2006.
- ^ "Italian Election, The Prelude". The American. 1 April 2006.
- ^
Griffin, Roger (1996). "The 'Post-Fascism' of the Alleanza Nazionale: A Case Study in Ideological Morphology". Journal of Political. Ideologies. 1 (2): 123–145. doi:10.1080/13569319608420733.
'AN's ideological tap-root is still thrust deep into historical Fascism... retaining many Fascist core values
- ^ "Elezioni della Camera dei Deputati del 27 Marzo 1994" (in Italian). Italian Chamber of Deputies.
- ^ Including 27 deputies of the Christian Democratic Centre (CCD), 4 deputies of the Union of the Centre (UdC) and 2 deputies of the Liberal Democratic Pole (PLD)
- ^ Including 8 deputies of the Social Christians (CS)
- ^ Including 6 deputies of the Republican Left (SR), one deputy of Socialist Rebirth (RS) and one deputy of the Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI)
- ^ 6,570,468 votes for the Pole of Freedoms (in the Northern Italy), 4,544,573 votes for the Pole of Good Government (in the Southern Italy), 2,077,934 votes for National Alliance (in the Northern Italy), 767,765 votes for the Pannella List and 149,965 votes for Forza Italia–CCD (in Abruzzo)
- ^ 19.87% of the votes for the Pole of Freedoms, 13.74% of the votes for the Pole of Good Government, 6.28% of the votes for National Alliance, 2.32% of the votes for the Pannella List and 0.45% of the votes for Forza Italia–CCD
- ^ Including 2 senators of the Union of the Centre (UdC)
- ^ Including 6 senators of the Social Christians (CS) and 2 senators of the Labour Federation (FL)
- ^ Il Sole 24 Ore - Nel 1994 decisivi per Berlusconi tre senatori a vita.
External links
- Template:It icon Minister of Internal Affairs of Italy: 1994 Election Results, Chamber of Deputies - uninominal (compressed ZIP file)
- Template:It icon Ministry of Internal Affairs of Italy: 1994 Election Results, Chamber of Deputies - proportional
- Template:It icon 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 |
