Italian general election, 1996

April 21, 1996 (1996-04-21)

All 630 seats in the Italian Chamber of Deputies 315 seats in the Italian Senate

Turnout	82.88%
	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Romano Prodi	Silvio Berlusconi	Umberto Bossi
Party	Independent	Forza Italia	Lega Nord
Alliance	The Olive Tree	Pole for Freedoms
Leader's seat	Bologna East	Milan Centre	Milan Centre (lost)
Last election	259 & 153 seats, 34.4%	273 & 114 seats, 42.8%	11 & 8 seats, 8.4%
Seats won	322 (C) 169 (S)	246 (C) 116 (S)	59 (C) 27 (S)
Seat change	63	26	67
Popular vote	16,924,099	15,095,436	3,776,354
Percentage	45.4%	43.2%	10.1%
Swing	11.0%	0.4%	1.3%

Legislative election results map. Red denotes provinces with a Democratic Socialist plurality, Azure denotes those with a Forza Italia plurality, Blue denotes those with a National Alliance plurality, Green denotes those with a Lega Nord plurality, Yellow denotes those with a Populars plurality, Cyan denotes those with a Christian Democratic plurality.

Prime Minister before election

Lamberto Dini
Independent

Prime Minister-designate

Romano Prodi
The Olive Tree (Italy)

A snap 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. Romano Prodi, leader of the centre-left coalition The Olive Tree, won the election, narrowly defeating Silvio Berlusconi, who led the Pole for Freedoms centre-right coalition.

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

General election

Background

In December 1994, following the communication of a new investigation from Milan magistrates that was leaked to the press, Umberto Bossi, leader of the Lega Nord, left the coalition claiming that the electoral pact had not been respected, forcing Berlusconi to resign from office and shifting the majority's weight to the centre-left side. Lega Nord also resented the fact that many of its MPs had switched to Forza Italia, allegedly lured by promises of more prestigious portfolios.

Berlusconi remained as caretaker prime minister for a little over a month until his replacement by a technocratic government headed by Lamberto Dini. Dini had been a key minister in the Berlusconi cabinet, and Berlusconi said the only way he would support a technocratic government would be if Dini headed it. In the end, however, Dini was only supported by most opposition parties but not by Forza Italia and Lega Nord.

In December 1995 Dini resigned as Prime Minister and the President of the Republic, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, decided to begin consultations to form a government, substained by all the parties in the Parliament to make constitutional reforms. Favourably to this proposal sided both, in a TV debate on 19 January 1996, Silvio Berlusconi and Democratic Party of the Left leader Massimo D'Alema. Although there were many problems on this theme in both coalition: in fact Gianfranco Fini and Romano Prodi wanted a snap election, not sure that the reforms would be helpful for the country. On 16 February 1996, a snap election was called.

Campaign

On 19 February 1996, the outgoing Prime Minister Lamberto Dini announced that he would run in the election with a new party allied with The Olive Tree rather than Berlusconi's Pole of Freedoms. Shortly after Berlusconi claimed that Dini "copied our electoral programme".^[1]

Another important declaration was Umberto Bossi's one: the leader of the regionalist Lega Nord, which was very important in 1994 to help Berlusconi winning the election, said that his party would not support Berlusconi anymore and run alone in the election. At the same time, Prodi's coalition made an important pre-electoral agreement with Communist Refoundation Party in which Fausto Bertinotti's party undertook to support Prodi's government after the election in the case of a no-majority Parliament.

On 25 March 1996, Berlusconi organised a great manifestation in Milan against taxes (The Tax Day) attended by lot of Milanese artisans; on the same day, in Turin, Prodi was heavily contested during his electoral speech and accused of not wanting to lower taxes.^[2]

Parties and leaders

	Ideology	Leader
Democratic Party of the Left (PDS)	Social democracy	Massimo D'Alema
Forza Italia (FI)	Liberal conservatism	Silvio Berlusconi
National Alliance (AN)	National conservatism	Gianfranco Fini
Lega Nord (LN)	Regionalism	Umberto Bossi
Communist Refoundation Party (PRC)	Communism	Fausto Bertinotti
Italian People's Party	Christian democracy	Franco Marini
CCD–CDU	Christian democracy	Pier Ferdinando Casini
Italian Renewal (RI)	Liberalism	Lamberto Dini
Federation of the Greens (FdV)	Green politics	Franco Corleone
Pannella-Sgarbi List	Liberalism	Marco Pannella
Tricolour Flame (FT)	Neo-Fascism	Pino Rauti

Coalitions and electoral lists

		Leader
The Olive Tree (L'Ulivo)	Democratic Party of the Left (Partito Democratico della Sinistra)	Romano Prodi
	Populars for Prodi (Popolari per Prodi)
	Italian Renewal (Rinnovamento Italiano)
	Federation of the Greens (Federazione dei Verdi)
Pole for Freedoms (Polo per le Libertà)	Forward Italy (Forza Italia)	Silvio Berlusconi
	National Alliance (Alleanza Nazionale)
	Christian Democratic Centre – United Christian Democrats (Centro Cristiano Democratico – Cristiani Democratici Uniti)
Northern League (Lega Nord)	Northern League (Lega Nord)	Umberto Bossi
Communist Refoundation Party (Partito della Rifondazione Comunista)	Communist Refoundation Party (Partito della Rifondazione Comunista)	Fausto Bertinotti
Pannella-Sgarbi List (Lista Pannella-Sgarbi)	Pannella-Sgarbi List (Lista Pannella-Sgarbi)	Marco Pannella

Results

On election day, Prodi's Olive Tree coalition won over Berlusconi's Pole for Freedoms, becoming the first coalition composed by a post-communist party to win general election since the Second World War. In the Senate The Olive Tree obtained the majority, but in the Chamber it required the external support of Communist Refoundation Party.

Chamber of Deputies

Proportional

← Summary of the 21 April 1996 Chamber of Deputies election results →
Party		%	Votes	Seats

	Democratic Party of the Left	21.06	7,894,118	26
	Forza Italia	20.57	7,712,149	37
	National Alliance	15.66	5,870,491	28
	Lega Nord	10.07	3,776,354	20
	Communist Refoundation Party	8.57	3,213,748	20
	Populars for Prodi (PPI-UD-PRI-SVP)	6.81	2,554,072	4
	Christian Democratic Centre–United Christian Democrats	5.84	2,189,563	12
	Italian Renewal	4.34	1,627,380	8
	Federation of the Greens	2.50	938,665	0
	Pannella-Sgarbi List	1.88	702,988	0
	Tricolour Flame	0.91	339,351	0
	Socialist Party	0.40	149,441	0
	Southern Action League	0.19	72,062	0
	North-East Union	0.17	63,934	0
	Union for South Tyrol	0.15	55,548	0
	Clean Hands	0.12	44,935	0
	We Sicilians - National Sicilian Front	0.11	41,001	0
	Sardinian Action Party	0.10	38,002	0
	Greens Greens	0.07	25,788	0
	Sardinia Nation	0.06	23,355	0
	Freedom Independence Group	0.05	17,451	0
	Environmentalists	0.04	15,560	0
	Humanist Party	0.04	14,601	0
	Renewal	0.04	13,677	0
	Pact for the Sour	0.03	12,297	0
	Social Democracy	0.02	9,319	0
	Italian Rebirth Movement	0.02	8,886	0
	Tuscan Autonomist Movement	0.02	8,627	0
	Natural Law Party	0.02	8,298	0
	New Democracy	0.02	8,185	0
	Liberal Federalists	0.02	6,475	0
	For Marche	0.01	5,545	0
	New Energies	0.01	5,393	0
	Development and Legality	0.01	5,347	0
	Autonomy Free North	0.01	4,965	0
	Federalist Party	0.01	3,743	0
	Risorgimento of the South	0.01	3,084	0
Total		100.00	37,484,398	155

First-past-the-post

Parties and coalitions		%	Votes	Seats
	Pole for Freedoms	40.09	15,027,030	169
	The Olive Tree	38.54	14,447,548	228
	Lega Nord	10.77	4,038,239	39
	The Olive Tree–Lega Autonomia Veneta	2.66	997,534	14
	Progressives	2.62	982,505	15
	Tricolour Flame	1.67	624,558	0
	The Olive Tree–Sardinian Action Party	0.72	269,047	4
	South Tyrolean People's Party	0.42	156,708	3
	Southern Action League	0.22	82,373	1
	Pannella-Sgarbi List	0.19	69,406	0
	Clean Hands	0.18	68,443	0
	Socialist Party	0.12	44,786	0
	Sardinia Nation	0.11	42,246	0
	Aosta Valley	0.10	37,431	1
	Others	1.59	407,255	1
Total		100.00	37,295,109	475

Overall result

Popular vote (Proportional)

PDS			21.06%
FI			20.57%
AN			15.66%
LN			10.07%
PRC			8.57%
Populars			6.81%
CCD-CDU			5.84%
RI			4.34%
FdV			2.50%
LP			1.88%
Others			2.68%

Popular vote (First-past-the-post)

Ulivo			41.92%
PpL			40.09%
LN			10.77%
Prog.			2.62%
FT			1.67%
Others			3.65%

Senate of the Republic

← Summary of the 21 April 1996 Senate of the Republic election results →
Parties and coalitions		%	Votes	Seats

	The Olive Tree	39.89	13,013,276	152
	Pole for Freedoms	37.35	12,185,020	116
	Lega Nord	10.41	3,394,733	27
	Progressives	2.87	934,974	10
	Tricolour Flame	2.29	747,487	1
	Pannella-Sgarbi List	1.56	509,826	1
	The Olive Tree–Sardinian Action Party	1.29	421,331	5
	Socialist Party	0.88	286,426	0
	The Fir - SVP–PATT	0.55	178,425	2
	Clean Hands	0.33	109,113	0
	League for Autonomy – Lombard Alliance	0.33	106,313	0
	North-East Union	0.22	72,541	0
	We Sicilians – National Sicilian Front	0.22	71,841	0
	Southern Action League	0.20	66,750	0
	Greens Greens	0.19	61,434	0
	Pensioners' Party	0.19	60,640	0
	Social Democracy	0.18	60,016	0
	Sardinia Nation	0.14	44,713	0
	Aosta Valley	0.10	29,538	1
	Others	0.81	270,188	0
Total		100.00	32,624,584	315

Overall result

Popular vote

Ulivo			39.89%
PpL			37.35%
LN			10.41%
Prog.			2.87%
FT			2.29%
Others			7.19%

Leaders' races

General Election 1996: Bologna East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	The Olive Tree	Romano Prodi	55,830	60.8
	Pole for Freedoms	Filippo Berselli	35,972	39.2
Majority			19,858	21.6
Turnout			95,948	92.3

General Election 1996: Milan Centre
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Pole for Freedoms	Silvio Berlusconi	46,098	51.5
	The Olive Tree	Michele Salvati	32,464	36.3
	Lega Nord	Umberto Bossi	10,179	11.4
	Independent	Camillo Comelli	766	0.8
Majority			13,634	15.2
Turnout			92,969	82.6

References

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)

Elections and referendums in Italy

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See also: Elections in Abruzzo Aosta Valley Apulia Basilicata Calabria Campania Emilia–Romagna Friuli-Venezia Giulia Lazio Liguria Lombardy Marche Molise Piedmont Sardinia Sicily Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol Tuscany Umbria Veneto

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