Italian general election, 1992
Italian general election, 1992
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| Legislative election results map. White denotes provinces with a Christian Democratic plurality, Red denotes those with a Democratic Socialist plurality, Green denotes those with a League plurality, Gray denotes those with a Regionalist plurality. |
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General elections were held in Italy on 5 April 1992 for the 11th Parliament of the Republic.[3] 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. It was replaced by a more social-democratic oriented force, the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS), and by a minority entity formed by members who did not want to renounce the communist tradition, the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC). However, put together they gained around 4% less than what the already declining PCI had obtained in the 1987 Italian general election, despite PRC had absorbed the disbanded Proletarian Democracy (DP).
The other major feature was the sudden rise of the federalist Northern League, which 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 onda lunga ("long wave") of Bettino Craxi's now centrist-oriented Italian Socialist Party, which in the past elections had been forecast next to overcome PCI, seemed to stop. Christian Democracy and the other traditional government parties, with the exception of the Republican Party, 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. Remaining votes and seats were transferred at national level, where they was 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.
Results
Chamber of Deputies
| Party |
Votes |
% |
Seats |
+/– |
| Christian Democracy |
11,637,569 |
29.7 |
206 |
–28 |
| Democratic Party of the Left |
6,317,962 |
16.1 |
107 |
– |
| Italian Socialist Party |
5,343,808 |
13.6 |
92 |
–2 |
| Lega Lombarda |
3,395,384 |
8.6 |
55 |
+54 |
| Communist Refoundation Party |
2,201,428 |
5.6 |
35 |
– |
| Italian Social Movement |
2,107,037 |
5.4 |
34 |
–1 |
| Italian Republican Party |
1,723,756 |
4.5 |
27 |
+6 |
| Italian Liberal Party |
1,121,854 |
2.9 |
17 |
+6 |
| Federation of the Greens |
1,093,037 |
2.8 |
16 |
New |
| Italian Democratic Socialist Party |
1,066,672 |
2.7 |
16 |
–1 |
| The Net |
730,293 |
1.9 |
12 |
New |
| Pannella List |
486,344 |
1.2 |
7 |
New |
| South Tyrolean People's Party |
198,431 |
0.5 |
3 |
0 |
| Liga Veneta |
1,819,616 |
4.6 |
1 |
+1 |
| Valdotanian Union |
1 |
0 |
| Pensioners' Party |
1 |
+1 |
| Others |
0 |
0 |
| Invalid/blank votes |
2,195,438 |
– |
– |
– |
| Total |
41,438,994 |
100 |
630 |
0 |
| Registered voters/turnout |
47,435,689 |
87.3 |
– |
– |
| Source: Nohlen & Stöver |
Senate
| Party |
Votes |
% |
Seats |
+/– |
| Christian Democracy |
9,088,494 |
27.3 |
107 |
–18 |
| Democratic Party of the Left |
5,682,888 |
17.1 |
64 |
– |
| Italian Socialist Party |
4,523,873 |
13.6 |
49 |
+13 |
| Lega Lombarda |
2,732,461 |
8.2 |
25 |
+24 |
| Communist Refoundation Party |
2,171,950 |
6.5 |
20 |
– |
| Italian Social Movement |
2,171,215 |
6.5 |
16 |
0 |
| Italian Republican Party |
1,565,142 |
4.7 |
10 |
+2 |
| Federation of the Greens |
1,027,303 |
3.1 |
4 |
New |
| Italian Liberal Party |
939,159 |
2.8 |
4 |
+1 |
| Italian Democratic Socialist Party |
853,895 |
2.6 |
3 |
–2 |
| The Net |
239,868 |
0.7 |
3 |
New |
| South Tyrolean People's Party |
168,113 |
0.5 |
3 |
+1 |
| Pannella List |
166,708 |
0.5 |
3 |
New |
| Valdotanian Union |
174,713 |
0.5 |
1 |
0 |
| Lega Autonomia Veneta |
258,700 |
0.8 |
1 |
+1 |
| Lega Alpina Piemontese |
1 |
+1 |
| Union of the Venetian People |
1 |
+1 |
| Others |
1,477,493 |
4.7 |
0 |
– |
| Invalid/blank votes |
2,409,646 |
– |
– |
– |
| Total |
35,651,621 |
100 |
315 |
0 |
| Registered voters/turnout |
41,022,758 |
86.9 |
– |
– |
| Source: Nohlen & Stöver |
References
- ^ Members of PDS parliamentary groups after the disbandment of the Communist Party.
- ^ Due to impossibility of direct confrontation cause the disbandment of the Communist Party, the percentage refers to the empiric sum of PDS and PRC in 1992, and the result of PCI and DP in 1987.
- ^ Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1048 ISBN 9873832956097
External links