1992 Italian general election

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1992 Italian general election
Flag of Italy.svg
  1987 5–6 April 1992 1994  

All 630 seats in the Chamber of Deputies  · 315 seats in the Senate
Registered47,486,964 (C) ·41,053,543 (S)
Turnout41,479,764 (C) ·87.4% (Decrease2.svg1.4 pp)
35,633,367 (S) ·86.8% (Decrease2.svg1.5 pp)
 First partySecond partyThird party
 
Arnaldo Forlani 3 (cropped).jpg
Achille Occhetto 1992 (cropped).jpg
Bettino Craxi Official Portrait.jpg
Leader Arnaldo Forlani Achille Occhetto Bettino Craxi
Party DC PDS PSI
Leader since22 February 1989 [a] 21 June 1988 [b] 15 July 1976
Leader's seat Ancona (C) Rome (C) Milan (C)
Seats won206 (C) / 107 (S)107 (C) / 66 (S)92 (C) / 49 (S)
Seat changeDecrease2.svg46 (C) / Decrease2.svg18 (S)Decrease2.svg51 (C) / Decrease2.svg45 (S)Decrease2.svg2 (C) / Increase2.svg5 (S)
Popular vote11,637,569 (C)
9,088,494 (S)
6,317,962 (C)
5,682,888 (S)
5,343,808 (C)
4,523,873 (S)
Percentage29.7% (C)
27.3% (S)
16.1% (C)
17.0% (S)
13.6% (C)
13.6% (S)
SwingDecrease2.svg4.6 pp (C)
Decrease2.svg5.3 pp (S)
Decrease2.svg10.5 pp (C)
Decrease2.svg11.3 pp (S)
Decrease2.svg0.7 pp (C)
Increase2.svg2.6 pp (S)

 Fourth partyFifth partySixth party
 
Umberto Bossi 1994 daticamera.jpg
Sergio Garavini daticamera.jpg
Gianfranco Fini 1992.jpg
Leader Umberto Bossi Sergio Garavini Gianfranco Fini
Party LN PRC MSI
Leader since4 December 198910 February 19916 July 1991 [c]
Leader's seat Milan (C) Rome (C) Rome (C)
Seats won55 (C) / 25 (S)35 (C) / 20 (S)34 (C) / 16 (S)
Seat changeIncrease2.svg54 (C) / Increase2.svg24 (S)New partyDecrease2.svg1 (C) / Steady2.svg0 (S)
Popular vote3,396,012 (C)
2,732,461 (S)
2,204,641 (C)
2,171,950 (S)
2,107,037 (C)
2,171,215 (S)
Percentage8.7% (C)
8.2% (S)
5.6% (C)
6.5% (S)
5.4% (C)
6.5% (S)
SwingIncrease2.svg8.2 pp (C)
Increase2.svg7.8 pp (S)
New partyDecrease2.svg0.4 pp (C)
Steady2.svg0.0 pp (S)

1992 Italian general election - Results.svg
1992 Italian general election - Seat Distribution.svg

Prime Minister before election

Giulio Andreotti
DC

Prime Minister after the election

Giuliano Amato
PSI

General elections were held in Italy on 5 and 6 April 1992. [1] They were the first without the traditionally second most important political force in Italian politics, the Italian Communist Party (PCI), which had been disbanded in 1991. Most of its members split between the more democratic socialist-oriented Democratic Party of the Left (PDS), while a minority who did not want to renounce the communist tradition became the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC); between them, they gained around 4% less than what the already declining PCI had obtained in the 1987 Italian general election, despite PRC absorbing the disbanded Proletarian Democracy (DP).

Contents

The other major feature was the sudden rise of the Northern League (LN), a federalist party that increased its vote from 0.5% of the preceding elections to more than 8%, increasing from a single member both in the Chamber and the Senate to 55 and 25, respectively. The "long wave" (onda lunga) of Bettino Craxi's now centrist-oriented Italian Socialist Party (PSI), which in the past elections had been forecast next to overcome PCI, seemed to stop. Christian Democracy (DC) and the other traditional government parties, with the exception of the Italian Republican Party (PRI) and the Italian Liberal Party (PLI), also experienced a slight decrease in their vote.

Electoral system

The pure party-list proportional representation had traditionally become the electoral system for the Chamber of Deputies. Italian provinces were united in 32 constituencies, each electing a group of candidates. At constituency level, seats were divided between open lists using the largest remainder method with Imperiali quota. The remaining votes and seats were transferred at national level, where they were divided using the Hare quota, and automatically distributed to best losers into the local lists.

For the Senate, 237 single-seat constituencies were established, even if the assembly had risen to 315 members. The candidates needed a landslide victory of two thirds of votes to be elected, a goal which could be reached only by the German minorities in South Tirol. All remained votes and seats were grouped in party lists and regional constituencies, where a D'Hondt method was used: inside the lists, candidates with the best percentages were elected.

Background

In February 1991, the Italian Communist Party (PCI) split into the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS), led by Achille Occhetto, and the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC), headed by Armando Cossutta. Occhetto, leader of the PCI since 1988, stunned the party faithfully assembled in a working-class section of Bologna with a speech heralding the end of Communism, a move now referred to in Italian politics as the svolta della Bolognina (Bolognina turning point). The collapse of the Communist governments in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe had convinced Occhetto that the era of Eurocommunism was over, and he transformed the PCI into a progressive left-wing party, the PDS. A third of the PCI's former members, led by Cossutta, refused to join the PDS, and founded the Communist Refoundation Party. [2]

The coalition ended in 1991 when the Italian Republican Party (PRI) withdrew its support from the coalition over its failure to be given the Ministry of Communications. [3] On 29 March 1991, the 5-party Andreotti VI Cabinet was replaced with the 4-party (quadripartito) Andreotti VII cabinet.

On 17 February 1992, judge Antonio Di Pietro had Mario Chiesa, a member of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), arrested for accepting a bribe from a Milan cleaning firm. The Socialists distanced themselves from Chiesa. Bettino Craxi called Chiesa mariuolo, or "villain", a "wild splinter" of the otherwise clean PSI. Upset over this treatment by his former colleagues, Chiesa began to give information about corruption implicating his colleagues. This marked the beginning of the Mani pulite investigation; news of political corruption began spreading in the press.

In February 1991, the Northern League, which was first launched as an upgrade of the Northern Alliance in December 1989, was officially transformed into a party through the merger of various regional parties, notably including Lombard League and Venetian League, under the leadership of Umberto Bossi. These continue to exist as "national" sections of the federal party. [4] [5] [6]

The Northern League exploited resentment against Rome's centralism (with the famous slogan Roma ladrona, which loosely means "Rome big thief") and the Italian government, common in northern Italy, as many northerners felt that the government wasted resources collected mostly from northerners' taxes. [7] Cultural influences from bordering countries in the North and resentment against illegal immigrants were also exploited. The party's electoral successes began roughly at a time when public disillusionment with the established political parties was at its height. The Tangentopoli corruption scandals, which invested most of the established parties, were unveiled from 1992 on. [5] [6] Contrarily to what many pundits observed at the beginning of the 1990s, the Northern League became a stable political force and it is by far the oldest party among those represented in the Italian Parliament.

The Northern League's first electoral breakthrough was at the 1990 regional elections, but it was with the 1992 general election that the party emerged as a leading political actor. Having gained 8.7% of the vote, 56 deputies, and 26 senators, [8] it became the fourth largest party of the country and within the Italian Parliament.

Parties and leaders

PartyIdeologyLeaderSeats in 1987Seats in 1992
CSTotalCSTotal
Christian Democracy (DC) Christian democracy Arnaldo Forlani
234
125
359
234
129
363
Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) Democratic socialism Achille Occhetto
177
(as PCI)
102
(as PCI)
279
(as PCI)
168
(PDS+SI)
89
(PDS+SI)
257
(PDS+SI)
Italian Socialist Party (PSI) Social democracy Bettino Craxi
94
45
139
100
45
145
Italian Social Movement (MSI) Neo-fascism Gianfranco Fini
35
16
51
33
15
48
Italian Republican Party (PRI) Republicanism Giorgio La Malfa
21
8
29
20
9
29
Communist Refoundation Party (PRC) Communism Sergio Garavini
Dit not exist
11
11
22
Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI) Social democracy Franco Nicolazzi
17
7
24
12
5
17
Federation of the Greens (FdV) Green politics Carlo Ripa di Meana
13
2
15
13
2
15
Italian Liberal Party (PLI) Liberalism Renato Altissimo
11
3
14
11
3
14
Pannella List (LP) Liberalism Marco Pannella
12
(as PR)
3
(as PR)
15
(as PR)
8
3
11
Northern League (LN) Regionalism Umberto Bossi
1
1
2
1
1
2
The Network (LR) Anti-corruption Leoluca Orlando
Did not exist
0
0
0

Results

Christian Democracy (DC) suffered a significant swing against it, but the coalition it had led prior to the elections managed to retain a small majority. Opposition parties won a significant amount of support; however, the largest opposition party, the Italian Communist Party (PCI), had suffered an internal crisis after the fall of the Soviet Union, with the bulk of the party reforming into the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and a minority forming the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC). Collectively, they suffered a 4% swing against them, with the PDS losing a third of its seats compared to 1987, and the opposition was divided. The biggest winner of the election was Northern League, which was not inclined to alliances at the time due to its separatist leanings.

The resulting parliament was therefore weak and difficult to bring to an agreement, and lasted only two years before new elections were held in 1994. This was accelerated by the mani pulite scandal, which began shortly before the election and expanded in scope throughout 1992 and 1993. The scandal implicated vast sections of almost every major political party in Italy in extensive corruption. This had catastrophic consequences for the political landscape as the governing parties became extremely unpopular.

The 1992–1994 parliamentary term also saw the first major change to the Italian electoral system since the late 1940s, with a 1993 referendum abolishing the clause of the electoral law which required candidates to win two-thirds of votes to be elected in the Senate's single-member districts. This essentially transformed the Senate electoral law from de facto pure proportional representation to a mixed-member majoritarian system. Parliament subsequently passed a new electoral law establishing a similar system for the Chamber of Deputies.

Chamber of Deputies

Italian Chamber of Deputies, 1992.svg
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Christian Democracy 11,637,56929.65206−28
Democratic Party of the Left 6,317,96216.10107−70
Italian Socialist Party 5,343,80813.6292−2
Northern League 3,395,3848.6555+54
Communist Refoundation Party 2,201,4285.6135New
Italian Social Movement 2,107,2725.3734−1
Italian Republican Party 1,723,7564.3927+6
Italian Liberal Party 1,121,8542.8617+6
Federation of the Greens 1,093,0372.7916+3
Italian Democratic Socialist Party 1,066,6722.7216−1
The Network 730,2931.8612New
Pannella List 486,3441.247−6
Yes Referendum320,0610.820New
Pensioners' Party 220,5090.560New
South Tyrolean People's Party 198,4310.5130
Hunting – Fishing – Environment 193,2280.4900
Federalism–Pensioners Living Men (UVPSd'AzSSKUfS)154,9870.391–1
Lega Autonomia Veneta 152,3960.391New
Housewives–Pensioners League134,0930.340New
Lega Alpina Lumbarda 90,8750.230New
Lega Alpina Piemont 69,6480.180New
Southern Action League 53,9930.140New
Veneto Autonomous Region Movement 49,0270.1200
Venice Union48,6590.120New
Federalist Greens 42,8840.110New
Aosta Valley 41,4040.1110
Lega Lombardia Europea Terra Libera33,5790.090New
Dolchi-Fosson Group (DCPDS)30,7240.080New
League of Leagues28,0080.070New
Greens Greens 25,8620.070New
Love Party 22,4010.060New
Independentist Sardinian Party 15,1060.040New
Alleanza Lombarda 15,0540.040New
Piemont Liber11,2630.030New
Political Movement for the Defence of Motorists10,1090.030New
Lega Marche8,0350.020New
Lega Lazio5,9990.020New
Lega Padana Emilia-Romagna5,8320.010New
Territorial Development Cooperation5,7220.010New
Christian Democracy Party5,0460.010New
Tuscan Autonomist Movement 4,4220.010New
Southern League of Italy4,0540.010New
Europa 2000 Party3,3800.010New
Living Together2,8480.010New
Justicialist Party2,8180.010New
Freedom Movement2,4180.010New
European Motorists' Movement2,1080.010New
National Protest League1,4720.000New
Renewal1,2080.000New
Southern League for National Unity4640.000New
Total39,243,506100.006300
Valid votes39,243,50694.70
Invalid/blank votes2,195,4385.30
Total votes41,438,944100.00
Registered voters/turnout47,435,68987.36
Source: JSTOR   45132579 Romano, Brocchini
Popular vote
DC
29.66%
PDS
16.11%
PSI
13.62%
LN
8.65%
PRC
5.62%
MSI
5.37%
PRI
4.39%
PLI
2.86%
FdV
2.79%
PSDI
2.71%
Rete
1.86%
LP
1.24%
Others
5.14%
Seats
DC
32.70%
PDS
16.98%
PSI
14.60%
LN
8.73%
PRC
5.56%
MSI
5.40%
PRI
4.29%
PLI
2.70%
FdV
2.54%
PSDI
2.54%
Rete
1.90%
LP
1.11%
Others
0.95%

Results by constituency

ConstituencyTotal
seats
Seats won
DC PDS PSI LN PRC MSI PRI PLI FdV PSDI Others
Turin 3575563221112
Cuneo 12412311
Genoa 19542311111
Milan 481077103231212
Como 195236111
Brescia 2172261111
Mantua 932121
Trentino 1031114
Verona 2810335111112
Venice 155223111
Udine 12412311
Bologna 275932212111
Parma 184623111
Florence 174621211
Pisa 16442111111
Siena 72311
Ancona 166421111
Perugia 1134211
Rome 54171073532223
L'Aquila 1663211111
Campobasso 5311
Naples 4418682312112
Benevento 19925111
Bari 251035121111
Lecce 187331211
Potenza 6411
Catanzaro 2494421112
Catania 291235122112
Palermo 271223111124
Cagliari 19733111111
Aosta Valley 11
Trieste 3111
Total630206107925535342717161625

Senate of the Republic

Italian Senate, 1992.svg
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Christian Democracy 9,088,49427.27107−18
Democratic Party of the Left 5,682,88817.0564−37
Italian Socialist Party 4,523,87313.5749+13
Northern League 2,732,4618.2025+24
Communist Refoundation Party 2,171,9506.5220New
Italian Social Movement 2,171,2156.51160
Italian Republican Party 1,565,1424.7010+2
Federation of the Greens 1,027,3033.084+3
Italian Liberal Party 939,1592.824+1
Italian Democratic Socialist Party 853,8952.563−2
Yes Referendum332,3181.000New
The Network 239,8680.723New
Pensioners' Party 215,8890.650New
Lega Alpina Lumbarda 192,4500.581New
Federalism–Pensioners Living Men (UVPSd'AzSSKUfS)174,7130.5210
South Tyrolean People's Party 168,1130.503+1
Pannella List 166,7080.500−3
For Calabria 143,9760.432New
Lega Autonomia Veneta 142,4460.431New
Housewives-Pensioners League134,3270.400New
Hunting – Fishing – Environment 116,3950.3500
Lega Lombardia Europea Terra Libera52,3660.160New
Veneto Autonomous Region Movement 50,9380.150New
Southern Action League 49,7690.150New
For Molise 48,3520.151New
Federalist Greens 47,0510.140New
Venice Union42,9670.130New
Without Borders36,1150.110New
Aosta Valley 34,1500.1010
Alleanza Lombarda 32,7480.100New
Dolchi-Fosson Group (DCPDS)31,1750.090New
Greens Greens 29,2170.090New
League of Leagues24,0510.070New
Love Party 16,8750.050New
Independentist Sardinian Party 13,4260.040New
Lega Marche7,5780.020New
Lega Lazio7,4450.020New
Freedom Movement6,7930.020New
Tuscan Autonomist Movement 6,5460.020New
European Motorists' Movement3,6780.010New
Political Movement for the Defence of Motorists3,2660.010New
Southern League for National Unity4920.000New
Total33,328,581100.003150
Valid votes33,328,58193.53
Invalid/blank votes2,304,7866.47
Total votes35,633,367100.00
Registered voters/turnout41,053,54386.80
Source: Ministry of the Interior, Brocchini
Popular vote
DC
27.27%
PDS
17.05%
PSI
13.57%
LN
8.20%
PRC
6.52%
MSI
6.51%
PRI
4.70%
FdV
3.08%
PLI
2.82%
PSDI
2.56%
Others
7.72%
Seats
DC
33.97%
PDS
20.32%
PSI
15.56%
LN
7.94%
PRC
6.35%
MSI
5.08%
PRI
3.17%
FdV
1.27%
PLI
1.27%
PSDI
0.95%
Others
4.13%

Results by constituency

ConstituencyTotal
seats
Seats won
DC PDS PSI LN PRC MSI PRI FdV PLI PSDI Others
Piedmont 24644421111
Aosta Valley 11
Lombardy 48147711312111
Trentino-Alto Adige 72113
Veneto 2393341111
Friuli-Venezia Giulia 73121
Liguria 1033121
Emilia-Romagna 21592221
Tuscany 19573211
Umbria 72311
Marche 83311
Lazio 279742311
Abruzzo 7421
Molise 211
Campania 301155231111
Apulia 217441311
Basilicata 7412
Calabria 1152112
Sicily 261034121113
Sardinia 94221
Total31510764492520161044313

Notes

  1. Forlani also served as secretary from 1969 to 1973.
  2. Occhetto served as secretary of the PCI from 1988 to 1991. In 1991, he was appointed secretary of PCI's heir, the PDS.
  3. Fini also served as secretary from 1987 to 1990.

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p. 1048 ISBN   978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Kertzer, David I. (1998). Politics and Symbols: The Italian Communist Party and the Fall of Communism. Yale University Press. ISBN   978-0-300-07724-7.
  3. Martin J Bull (2015). "The Pentapartito". In Jones, Erik; Pasquino, Gianfranco (eds.). Oxford Handbook of Italian Politics. Oxford. p. 307. ISBN   9780199669745.
  4. Ignazi, Pietro (2008). Partiti politici in Italia. Bologna: Il Mulino. p. 88.
  5. 1 2 Ginsborg, Paul (1996). L'Italia del tempo presente. Turin: Einaudi. pp. 336–337, 534–535.
  6. 1 2 Galli, Giorgio (2001). I partiti politici italiani. Milan: BUR. pp. 379–380, 384.
  7. Rumiz, Paolo (2001). La secessione leggera. Dove nasce la rabbia del profondo Nord. Milan: Feltrinelli. pp. 10–13.
  8. Parenzo, David; Romano, Davide (2009). Romanzo padano. Da Bossi a Bossi. Storia della Lega. Milan: Sperling & Kupfer. pp. 263–266.