Italian general election, 1886

Italian general election, 1886
All 508 seats to the Chamber of Deputies of the Kingdom of Italy
Prime Minister before election; Agostino Depretis ; Historical Left	Elected Prime Minister ; Agostino Depretis ; Historical Left

Last updated April 10, 2019

General elections were held in Italy on 23 May 1886, with a second round of voting on 30 May.^[1] The "ministerial" left-wing bloc emerged as the largest in Parliament, winning 292 of the 508 seats.^[2] As in 1882, the election was held using small multi-member constituencies with between two and five seats.^[3]

Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe. Located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and the enclaved microstates San Marino and Vatican City. Italy covers an area of 301,340 km² (116,350 sq mi) and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. With around 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth-most populous EU member state and the most populous country in Southern Europe.

The race

The Historical Left was led by the Prime Minister of Italy, Agostino Depretis, a prominent member of the Italian politics for decades. Depretis had been head of the government since 1881 and also from 1876 to 1879.

The Left group, later called Historical Left by historians to distinguish it from the left-wing groups of the 20th century, was a liberal and reformist parliamentary group in Italy during the second half of the 19th century. The members of the Left were also known as Democrats or Ministerials. Differently by his Right counterpart, the Left was the result of coalition who represented Northern and Southern middle class, urban bourgeoisie, small businessmen, journalists and academics. It also supported a right to vote and the public school for all children. Moreover, the party was against the high taxation's policies promoted by the Right. Since the 1890s, the Left showed conservative tendencies, breaking strikes and protests and promoting a colonialist policy in Africa.

The President of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic, commonly referred to in Italy as Presidente del Consiglio, or informally as Premier and known in English as the Prime Minister of Italy, is the head of government of the Italian Republic. The office of Prime Minister is established by Articles 92 through to 96 of the Constitution of Italy. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President of the Republic after each general election and must have the confidence of the Italian Parliament to stay in office.

Agostino Depretis was an Italian statesman and politician. He was the Prime Minister of Italy for several times between 1876 and 1887 and leader of the Historical Left parliamentary group for more than a decade. He is the fourth-longest serving Prime Minister in Italian history, after Benito Mussolini, Giovanni Giolitti and Silvio Berlusconi. Depretis is widely considered one of the most powerful and important politicians in Italian history.

The leader of the Historical Right was Antonio Starabba di Rudinì, a conservative marchese from Sicily.

The Right group, later called Historical Right by historians to distinguish it from the right-wing groups of the 20th century, was an Italian parliamentary group during the second half of the 19th century. Since 1876, the Historical Right constituted the Constitutional opposition toward the left governments. Since 1882, its members were usually labeled as Constitutionals or Liberal-Conservatives, especially during the leadership of Rudinì and Sonnino. Few prime ministers after 1852 were party men; instead they accepted support where they could find it, and even the governments of the Historical Right during the 1860s included leftists.

Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 20 regions of Italy. It is one of the five Italian autonomous regions, in Southern Italy along with surrounding minor islands, officially referred to as Regione Siciliana.

The Historical Far-Left was led by Felice Cavallotti, a famous Italian poet.

Felice Cavallotti was an Italian politician, poet and dramatic author.

The Left emerged as the largest in Italian Parliament, winning 292 of the 508 seats, before the Right, which gained 145 seats.^[4] As in 1882, the election was held using small multi-member constituencies with between two and five seats.^[3]

The Italian Parliament is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. The Parliament is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1848–1861) and the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946). It is a bicameral legislature with 945 elected members and a small number of unelected members (parlamentari). It is composed of the Chamber of Deputies, with 630 members (deputati) elected on a national basis, and the Senate of the Republic, with 315 members (senatori) elected on a regional basis, plus a small number of senators for life, either appointed or ex officio. The two houses are independent from one another and never meet jointly except under circumstances specified by the Constitution.

Parties and leaders

	Ideology	Leader
Historical Left	Liberalism, Centrism	Agostino Depretis
Historical Right	Conservatism, Monarchism	Silvio Spaventa
Historical Far Left	Republicanism, Radicalism	Felice Cavallotti
Dissident Left	Progressivism, Social liberalism	Giuseppe Zanardelli

Results

← Summary of May 1886 Chamber of Deputies election results →
Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/−

	Historical Left	1,391,688^{[lower-alpha 1]}	57.5	292	+3
	Historical Right	675,271^{[lower-alpha 1]}	27.9	145	−2
	Historical Far Left	212,989^{[lower-alpha 1]}	8.8	45	+1
	Dissident Left	123,437^{[lower-alpha 1]}	5.1	26	+7
Invalid/blank votes		16,729	–	–	–
Total		1,415,801	100	508	±0
Registered voters/turnout		2,420,327	58.5	–	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

1 2 3 4 Estimate

Parliamentary seats

Historical Left			57.5%
Historical Right			27.9%
Historical Far Left			8.8%
Dissident Left			5.1%

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References

↑ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1047 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
↑ Nohlen & Stöver, p1082
1 2 Nohlen & Stöver, p1030
↑ Nohlen & Stöver, p1082

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[fn1-5] 1 2 3 4 Estimate

[NS-1] Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1047 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7

[2] Nohlen & Stöver, p1082

[NS2-3] 1 2 Nohlen & Stöver, p1030

[4] Nohlen & Stöver, p1082

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