1996 Italian general election

← 1994 21 April 1996 2001 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 630 seats in the Chamber of Deputies 316 seats needed for a majority 315 seats in the Senate 163 seats needed for a majority[a]
Registered	48,744,846 (C) · 42,889,825 (S)
Turnout	40,401,774 (C) · 82.9% (3.4 pp) 35,260,803 (S) · 82.2% (3.6 pp)
First party Second party   Leader Romano Prodi Silvio Berlusconi Party Independent Forza Italia Alliance The Olive Tree Pole for Freedoms Leader since 6 March 1995 18 January 1994 Leader's seat Bologna (C) Milan (C) Seats won 285 (C) / 157 (S) 246 (C) / 116 (S) Seat change 20 (C) / 4 (S) 26 (C) / 40 (S) Popular vote 15,747,455 (C) 13,434,607 (S) 15,027,030 (C) 12,185,020 (S) Percentage 42.0% (C) 41.2% (S) 40.1% (C) 37.3% (S)   Third party Fourth party   Leader Umberto Bossi Fausto Bertinotti Party Lega Nord Communist Refoundation[b] Alliance — Progressives Leader since 4 December 1989 22 January 1994 Leader's seat Lombardy (C)[c] Piedmont (C) Seats won 59 (C) / 27 (S) 35 (C) / 10 (S) Seat change 58 (C) / 33 (S) 3 (C) / 8 (S) Popular vote 3,776,354 (C) 3,394,733 (S) 3,213,748 (C) 934,974 (S) Percentage 10.1% (C) 10.4% (S) 8.5% (C) 2.8% (S)
Results of the single-member constituencies in the Chamber of Deputies (left) and Senate (right)
Prime Minister before election Lamberto Dini Independent Prime Minister after the election Romano Prodi The Olive Tree

The 1996 Italian general election was held 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 The Olive Tree, won the election, narrowly defeating Silvio Berlusconi, who led the centre-right Pole for Freedoms.

For the election, the Northern League 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, 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 Northern League, 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. The Northern League 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, Dini was only supported by most opposition parties and not by Forza Italia and Northern League.

In December 1995, Dini resigned as Prime Minister and President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro decided to begin consultations to form a government, supported by all the parties in the Italian Parliament to make constitutional reforms. In a TV debate on 19 January 1996, both Silvio Berlusconi and Democratic Party of the Left leader Massimo D'Alema supported constitutional reforms; however, there were many problems on this theme in both coalition, as 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 that of Umberto Bossi, the leader of the regionalist Northern League, which was very important in 1994 to help Berlusconi winning the election. Bossi said that his party would not support Berlusconi anymore and run alone in the election. At the same time, Prodi's coalition made a pre-electoral agreement with Communist Refoundation Party in which Fausto Bertinotti's party undertook to support Prodi's government after the election in case of no parliamentary majority.

On 25 March 1996, Berlusconi organised a manifestation in Milan against taxes (The Tax Day) attended by many 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]

Main coalitions and parties

Results

Chamber of Deputies

Overall results

← Summary of the 21 April 1996 Chamber of Deputies election results →

Results by party Results by coalition
Coalition		Party		Proportional			First-past-the-post			Total seats	+/–
				Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	The Olive Tree		Democratic Party of the Left (PDS)	7,894,118	21.06	26	15,747,455	42.01	146	172[d]	+48
			Populars for Prodi (PPI–UD–PRI–SVP)	2,554,072	6.81	4			65	69[e]	+18
			Italian Renewal (RI)	1,627,380	4.34	8			18	26[f]	New
			Federation of the Greens (FdV)	938,665	2.50	0			14	14	+3
			The Network (LR)	—	—	0			3	3	−5
			Ladin Autonomist Union (UAL)	—	—	0			1	1	+1
		Total seats				38			247	285	–
	Pole for Freedoms		Forza Italia (FI)	7,712,149	20.57	37	15,027,030	40.08	86	123[g]	−9
			National Alliance (AN)	5,870,491	15.66	28			65	93	−17
			CCD – CDU	2,189,563	5.84	12			28	30[h]	+3
		Total seats				77			169	246	–
	Northern League (LN)	3,776,354	10.07	20	4,038,239	10.77	39	59	−59
	Communist Refoundation Party (PRC)			3,213,748	8.57	20	982,505	2.62	15	35	−3
	South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)			—	—	0	156,708	0.42	3	3	±0
	Southern Action League (LAM)			72,062	0.19	0	82,373	0.22	1	1	±0
	Aosta Valley (VdA)			—	—	0	37,431	0.10	1	1	±0
	Others			1,635,796	4.39	0	1,223,368	3.78	0	0	±0
Total				37,484,398	100.00	155	37,295,109	100.00	475	630	—

Proportional and FPTP results

Senate of the Republic

← Summary of the 21 April 1996 Senate of the Republic election results →

Results by party Results by coalition
Coalition		Party		First-past-the-post			Proportional Seats	Total seats	+/–
				Votes	%	Seats
	The Olive Tree		Democratic Party of the Left (PDS)	13,444,978	41.21	134	23	102[i]	+26
		Italian People's Party (PPI)	27					−4
		Federation of the Greens (FdV)	14					+7
		Italian Renewal (RI)	11[j]					New
		The Network (LR)	1					−5
		Venetian Autonomy League (LAV)	1					+1
		Sardinian Action Party (PSd'Az)	1					+1
	Total seats						157	–
	Pole for Freedoms		Forza Italia (FI)	12,185,020	37.35	67	49	48[k]	+13
			National Alliance (AN)					43	−4
			Christian Democratic Centre (CCD)					15	+3
			United Christian Democrats (CDU)					10	New
		Total seats						116	–
	Northern League (LN)			3,394,733	10.41	18	9	27	−33
	Progressives			934,974	2.87	10	0	10	−8
	Tricolour Flame (FT)			747,487	2.29	0	1	1	New
	Pannella-Sgarbi List (LPS)			509,826	1.56	0	1	1	±0
	Socialist Party (PS)			286,426	0.88	0	0	0	New
	The Fir – South Tyrolean People's Party – PATT			178,425	0.55	2	0	2	−1
	Clean Hands			109,113	0.33	0	0	0	New
	League for Autonomy – Lombard Alliance			106,313	0.33	0	0	0	New
	North-East Union (UNE)			72,541	0.22	0	0	0	New
	We Sicilians – Sicilian National Front (NS–FNS)			71,841	0.22	0	0	0	New
	Southern Action League (LAM)			66,750	0.20	0	0	0	±0
	Greens Greens			61,434	0.19	0	0	0	±0
	Pensioners' Party (PP)			60,640	0.19	0	0	0	±0
	Social Democracy			60,016	0.18	0	0	0	New
	Federation of Italian Civic Lists			55,793	0.17	0	0	0	New
	Sardigna Natzione (SN)			44,713	0.14	0	0	0	New
	Aosta Valley (VdA)			27,493	0.08	1	0	1	±0
	Piedmont Nation of Europe			26,951	0.08	0	0	0	±0
	Environmentalists			26,756	0.08	0	0	0	New
	Independent Group Freedom (GIL)			23,301	0.07	0	0	0	New
	Union for South Tyrol (UfS)			19,330	0.06	0	0	0	New
	Tuscan Autonomist Movement (MAT)			18,691	0.06	0	0	0	±0
	Pact for the Agro			17,980	0.06	0	0	0	New
	Renovation			16,216	0.05	0	0	0	New
	Right of the People			6,710	0.02	0	0	0	New
	Natural Law Party (PLN)			10,371	0.03	0	0	0	New
	Democrats for Progress			5,688	0.02	0	0	0	New
	Communist Refoundation Party (PRC)			5,681	0.02	0	0	0	—
	Popular Movement of Moralization (MPM)			5,297	0.02	0	0	0	New
	Azure Alps			5,144	0.02	0	0	0	New
	Democratic Alternative for the Roman Castles			4,524	0.01	0	0	0	New
	Progressive People's Party (PPP)			4,450	0.01	0	0	0	±0
	For a Normal Country			3,976	0.01	0	0	0	New
	European Dolomite Region			2,898	0.01	0	0	0	New
	Free North Autonomy			2,411	0.01	0	0	0	New
	Hit the Center			2,178	0.01	0	0	0	New
Total				32,624,584	100.00	232	83	315	—
Source: Ministry of the Interior