Italian general election, 1882

Italian general election, 1882
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 29 October 1882, with a second round of voting on 5 November.^[1] The "ministerial" left-wing bloc emerged as the largest in Parliament, winning 289 of the 508 seats.^[2]

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.

Electoral system

Shortly before the elections the voting age was lowered from 25 to 21 and the tax requirement lowered from ₤40 to ₤19.80, whilst men with three years of primary education were exempted from it.^[3] This resulted in the number of eligible voters increasing from 621,896 at the 1880 elections to 2,017,829.^[4] The electoral system was changed from one based on single-member constituencies to one based on small multi-member constituencies with between two and five seats.^[3] Voters had as many votes as there were candidates, except in constituencies with five seats, in which they were limited to four votes.^[5] To be elected in the first round a candidate needed an absolute majority of the votes cast and to receive a number of votes equivalent to at least one-eighth of the number registered voters. If a second round was required, the number of candidates going through was double the number of seats available.^[5]

The lira was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002 and of the Albanian Kingdom between 1941 and 1943. Between 1999 and 2002, the Italian lira was officially a national subunit of the euro. However, cash payments could be made in lira only, as euro coins or notes were not yet available. The lira was also the currency of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy between 1807 and 1814.

Electoral campaign

The Historical Left was led by the Prime Minister of Italy, Agostino Depretis, a prominent member of the Italian politics for decades. The bloc of the Historical Right was led by Marco Minghetti, a conservative politician and former Prime Minister, from Bologna. A third large parliamentary group was the Historical Far-Left, a far-left organization led by Agostino Bertani, an Italian revolutionary.

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 "Ministerial" left-wing bloc emerged as the largest in Parliament, winning 289 of the 508 seats; the Right arrived second with 147 seats.^[2] Depretis was confirmed Prime Minister by king Umberto I.

Parties and leaders

	Ideology	Leader
Historical Left	Liberalism, Centrism	Agostino Depretis
Historical Right	Conservatism, Monarchism	Marco Minghetti
Historical Far Left	Republicanism, Radicalism	Agostino Bertani
Dissident Left	Progressivism, Social liberalism	Giuseppe Zanardelli

Results

← Summary of November 1882 Chamber of Deputies election results →
Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/−

	Historical Left	695,147^{[lower-alpha 1]}	56.8	289	+71
	Historical Right	353,693^{[lower-alpha 1]}	28.9	147	−24
	Historical Far Left	105,251^{[lower-alpha 1]}	8.6	44	New
	Dissident Left	45,282^{[lower-alpha 1]}	3.7	19	−100
	Others	24,477^{[lower-alpha 1]}	2.0	9	+9
Invalid/blank votes		62,646	–	–	–
Total		1,223,851	100	508	0
Registered voters/turnout		2,017,829	60.7	–	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

1 2 3 4 5 Estimate

Parliamentary seats

Historical Left			56.8%
Historical Right			28.9%
Historical Far Left			8.6%
Dissident Left			3.7%
Others			2.0%

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References

↑ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1047 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
1 2 Nohlen & Stöver, p1082
1 2 Nohlen & Stöver, pp1029-1030
↑ Nohlen & Stöver, p1049
1 2 Nohlen & Stöver, p1039

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[fn1-6] 1 2 3 4 5 Estimate

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

[Nohlen_&_Stöver,_p1082-2] 1 2 Nohlen & Stöver, p1082

[NS2-3] 1 2 Nohlen & Stöver, pp1029-1030

[4] Nohlen & Stöver, p1049

[NS3-5] 1 2 Nohlen & Stöver, p1039

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