Italian general election, 1996 Information & Italian general election, 1996 Links at HealthHaven.com

	‹ 1994 2001 ›
Italian general election, 1996
All 630 seats in the Italian Chamber of Deputies; and 315 (of the 326) seats in the Italian Senate
21 April 1996
	Incumbent Prime Minister; Lamberto Dini; Independent Prime Minister-designate; Romano Prodi; The Olive Tree

An early national general election was held in Italy on April 21, 1996 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic. Olive Tree leader Romano Prodi won the election, narrowly defeating Silvio Berlusconi, who led the Pole of Freedoms.

For the election, the Northern League of Umberto Bossi ran alone, after having left the Berlusconi I government in 1994, causing a crisis who 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.

[edit] 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 first-past-the-post system, whereas the remaining 25% was assigned on a proportional way 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.

[edit] Results

[edit] Chamber of Deputies

	Results
	Uninominal			Proportional					Total
	Votes	%	Seats	Coalition Party					Seats
	Votes	%	Seats	Party	Votes	%	Seats	Total	Seats
Olive Tree	15,758,981	45.4%	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 of 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
Northern League	4,038,239	10.8%	39	Northern League	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%	-	-	-

[edit] Senate of the Republic

	Results
	Uninominal			Proportional	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%	-	-	-

[edit] Both chambers uninominal part by region

Region	Seats by region
	Chamber of Deputies					Senate of the Republic
	House of Freedoms	Olive Tree	Northern League	PRC	Other	House of Freedoms	Olive Tree	Northern League	PRC	Other
Piedmont	11	23	1	1	-	5	10	1	1	-
Aosta Valley	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	1
Lombardy	34	19	20	-	-	11	15	8	1	-
Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol	1	4	-	-	3	2	2	-	-	2
Veneto	7	14	15	1	-	1	8	8	-	-
Friuli-Venezia Giulia	5	2	3	-	-	3	1	1	-	-
Liguria	4	9	-	1	-	2	3	-	1	-
Emilia-Romagna	1	28	-	3	-	-	13	-	2	-
Tuscany	1	24	-	4	-	-	12	-	2	-
Umbria	-	6	-	1	-	-	4	-	1	-
Marche	1	9	-	2	-	-	6	-	-	-
Latium	16	27	-	-	-	8	13	-	-	-
Abruzzo	5	6	-	-	-	1	4	-	-	-
Molise	1	2	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-
Campania	21	25	-	1	-	7	13	-	2	-
Apulia	17	16	-	-	1	9	7	-	-	-
Basilicata	1	4	-	-	-	-	5	-	-	-
Calabria	6	11	-	-	-	4	4	-	-	-
Sicily	31	10	-	-	-	13	7	-	-	-
Sardinia	6	7	-	1	-	1	5	-	-	-

[edit] 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)

Preceded by 1994 general election	Italian general elections	Succeeded by 2001 general election

Contents