Italian general election, 1874

Italian general election, 1874

8 and 15 November 1874

All 508 seats to the Italian Chamber of Deputies   Majority party Minority party   Leader Marco Minghetti Agostino Depretis Party Historical Right Historical Left Leader's seat Legnago Stradella Seats won 276 232 Seat change 43 37 Popular vote 156,784 (est.) 150,119 (est.) Percentage 53.6% 46.4%

Composition of the Parliament

Prime Minister before election Marco Minghetti Historical Right Subsequent Prime Minister Marco Minghetti Historical Right

The 1874 Italian general election was held in Italy on 8 November, with a second round of voting on 15 November.^[1] They were a snap election, called by Prime Minister Marco Minghetti to strengthen his majority.

Only 571,939 men of a total population of around 28 million were entitled to vote.^[2] Right-wing candidates emerged as the largest bloc in Parliament with around 48% of the seats in Parliament.^[3] They were largely aristocrats representing rentiers from the north of the country, and held moderate political views including loyalty to the crown and low government spending.^[4]

The race

Prime Minister Marco Minghetti and his influent Minister of the Treasury Quintino Sella were involved into an ambitious program of budget which needed a strong majority, for which they tried to oblige the Independents to choose their side, beginning to build a two-party system as in the United Kingdom.^[5] However, in the Italian non-partisan political system, hugely affected by localism and corruption, their bet was equivalent to an all-in that afterwards they lost.^[6]

The election did not give to Minghetti the advantage he was hoping, especially for the high support to the opposition in Southern Italy.^[7] His government survived, but the bipolarisation of the Parliament he had imposed, strengthened the Historical Left so that it could take the leadership of the country. Two years later, MPs from Tuscany became dissatisfied with the government after it refused to intervene in the financial problems of Florence. The government was defeated on a vote on nationalising railways on 18 March 1876 and was forced to resign.^[8] As a result Agostino Depretis, leader of the left-wing bloc, became Prime Minister, with 414 of the 508 MPs supporting the government.^[8] Early elections were held in November.

Parties and leaders

Party		Ideology	Leader
	Historical Right	Conservatism, Monarchism	Marco Minghetti
	Historical Left	Liberalism, Centrism	Agostino Depretis

Results

Affiliation		Votes	First round	% of seats	Votes	Second round	% of seats	Total
	Historical Right	116,119^[a]	110	53.6	80,665	166		276
	Historical Left	110,119^[a]	70	46.4		162		232
Invalid/blank votes		11,614	–	–
Total		318,517	180	100		328		508
Registered voters/turnout		571,939	55.7	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

^a The number of votes refers only to those received by winning candidates.^[9] The remainder is 80,665.

Popular vote
Historical Right			53.6%
Historical Left			46.4%

References

1. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1047 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Nohlen & Stöver, p1049
3. Nohlen & Stöver, p1082
4. Nohlen & Stöver, p1028
5. La Stampa, Thursday, 5 November 1874
6. La Stampa, Sunday, 8 November 1874
7. La Stampa, Monday, 16 November 1974
8. Nohlen & Stöver, p1029
9. Nohlen & Stöver, p1065