Italian general election, 2001

Italian general election, 2001

13 May 2001
All 630 seats in the Italian Chamber of Deputies 315 seats in the Italian Senate
Turnout	81.4%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Silvio Berlusconi Francesco Rutelli Fausto Bertinotti Party Forza Italia The Daisy Communist Refoundation Alliance House of Freedoms The Olive Tree Leader's seat Milan Centre Rome Praenestine Turin Centre Seats won 368 C / 176 S 241 C / 128 S 11 C / 4 S Seat change 96 C / 33 S 82 C / 29 S 30 C / 6 S Coalition vote 18,398,246 C 14,406,519 S 13,023,651 C 13,106,860 S 1,868,659 C 1,708,707 S Percentage 49.56% (C) 42.53% (S) 35.08% (C) 38.70% (S) 5.03% (C) 5.04% (S)
Election results maps for the Chamber of Deputies (on the left) and for the Senate (on the right). On the left, the color identifies the coalition which received the most votes in each province. On the right, the color identifies the coalition which won the most seats in respect to each Region. Blue denotes the Centre-right coalition, Red the Centre-left coalition and Gray regional parties.
Prime Minister before election Giuliano Amato The Olive Tree Elected Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi House of Freedoms

A national general election was held in Italy on 13 May 2001 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic. The 14th Parliament of the Italian republic was chosen.

The election was won by the centre-right coalition House of Freedoms led by Silvio Berlusconi, defeating Francesco Rutelli, former Mayor of Rome, and Prime Ministerial candidate of the centre-left coalition The Olive Tree, and rising back to power after Berlusconi's first victory, in the 1994 general election.

Electoral system

The intricate electoral system, called scorporo, provided 75% of the seats on the Chamber of Deputies (the Lower House) as elected by first-past-the-post system, whereas the remaining 25% was assigned on a proportional way with a minimum threshold of 4%.

The method used for the Senate was even more complicated: 75% of seats by uninominal method, and 25% by a special proportional method that assigned the remaining seats to minority parties. Formally, these were examples of additional member systems.

General election

Campaign

For this election Berlusconi again ran as leader of the centre-right coalition the House of Freedoms (Italian: La Casa delle Libertà), which included the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats, the Northern League, the National Alliance and other parties.

On the television interviews programme Porta a Porta, during the last days of the electoral campaign, Berlusconi created a powerful impression on the public by undertaking to sign a so-called Contratto con gli Italiani (English: Contract with the Italians), an idea copied outright by his advisor Luigi Crespi from the Newt Gingrich's Contract with America introduced six weeks before the 1994 US Congressional election,^[1] which was widely considered to be a creative masterstroke in his 2001 campaign bid for prime ministership. In this solemn agreement, Berlusconi claimed his commitment on improving several aspects of the Italian economy and life. Firstly, he undertook to simplify the complex tax system by introducing just two tax rates (33% for those earning over 100,000 euros, and 23% for anyone earning less than that figure: anyone earning less than 11,000 euros a year would not be taxed); secondly, he promised to halve the unemployment rate; thirdly, he undertook to finance and develop a massive new public works programme. Fourthly, he promised to raise the minimum monthly pension rate to 516 euros; and fifthly, he would suppress the crime wave by introducing police officers to patrol all local zones and areas in Italy's major cities.^[2] Berlusconi undertook to refrain from putting himself up for re-election in 2006 if he failed to honour at least four of these five promises.

Parties and leaders

Coalitions and electoral list

Main leaders

Coalition		Portrait	Name	Most recent position
	House of Freedoms		Silvio Berlusconi	Prime Minister of Italy (1994–1995) President of Forza Italia (1994–incumbent)
	The Olive Tree		Francesco Rutelli	Mayor of Rome (1993–2001) Leader of the Olive Tree (2000–incumbent)
	Communist Refoundation Party		Fausto Bertinotti	Secretary of the Communist Refoundation Party (1993–incumbent)
	Italy of Values		Antonio Di Pietro	President of Italy of Values (1998–incumbent)
	European Democracy		Sergio D'Antoni	General Secretary of CISL (1991–2000)
	Bonino List		Emma Bonino	European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection (1995–1999)

Results for the Chamber of Deputies

Overall results

← Summary of the 13 May 2001 Chamber of Deputies election results →

Coalition		Party		Proportional			First-past-the-post			Total seats	+/–
				Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	House of Freedoms		Forza Italia (FI)	10,923,431	29.43	62	16,915,513	45.57	132	194[3]	+71
			National Alliance (AN)	4,463,205	12.02	24			75	99	+6
			Northern League (LN)	1,464,301	3.94	0			30	30	−29
			White Flower (CCD–CDU)	1,194,040	3.22	0			40	40	+10
			New Italian Socialist Party (NPSI)	353,269	0.95	0			3	3	New
			Sardinian Reformers (RS)	N/A	N/A	0			1	1	+1
			New Sicily (NS)	N/A	N/A	0			1	1	New
		Total seats				86			282	368	–
	The Olive Tree		Democrats of the Left (DS)	6,151,154	16.57	31	16,019,388	43.15	105	136	−36
			The Daisy (DL)	5,391,827	14.52	27			56	83	−12
			The Sunflower (FdV–SDI)	805,340	2.17	0			17	17	–
			Party of Italian Communists (PdCI)	620,859	1.67	0			10	10	New
			South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)	200,059	0.54	0			3	3	±0
			With Illy for Trieste	78,284	0.21	0			1	1	New
		Total seats				58			192	250	–
	Communist Refoundation Party (PRC)			1,868,659	5.03	11	N/A	N/A	0	11	−24
	Aosta Valley (VdA)			N/A	N/A	0	25,577	0.07	1	1	±0
Total										630	–

Proportional

In 2001 the proportional list exhausted before all the deputies - which the winning party was entitled to - were declared elected.^[4]

First-past-the-post

Results for the Senate of the Republic

← Summary of the 13 May 2001 Senate of the Republic election results →

Coalition		Party		First-past-the-post			Proportional (Seats)	Total seats	+/–
				Votes	%	Seats
	House of Freedoms		Forza Italia (FI)	16,915,513	45.57	152	24	88	+40
			National Alliance (AN)					45	+2
			White Flower (CCD–CDU)					29	+4
			Northern League (LN)					17	−10
			Italian Republican Party (PRI)					1	+1
			New Italian Socialist Party (NPSI)					1	New
			Tricolour Flame (FT)	340,221	1.00		0	1	±0
		Total seats						176	–
	The Olive Tree[5]		Democrats of the Left (DS)	13,408,672[6]	39.59[7]	74	51	64	−38
			The Daisy (DL)					43	−5
			Federation of the Greens (FdV)					8	−6
			Italian Democratic Socialists (SDI)					6	–
			South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)					3	+1
			Party of Italian Communists (PdCI)					2	New
			Independent candidates					4	–
		Total seats						130	–
	Communist Refoundation Party (PRC)			1,708,707	5.04	0	4	4	−6
	European Democracy (DE)			1,066,908	3.15	0	2	2	New
	Italy of Values (IdV)			1,140,489	3.37	0	1	1	New
	League for Autonomy–Lombard Alliance–Pensioners League			308,559	0.91	0	1	1	+1
	Aosta Valley (VdA)			32,429	0.10	0	1	1	±0
	Bonino List (LB)			677,725	2.00	0	0	0	−1
	Liga Fronte Veneto (LFV)			138,134	0.41	0	0	0	New
	Va' pensiero Padania			119,058	0.35	0	0	0	New
	National Social Front (FSN)			98,132	0.29	0	0	0	New
	European Democracy–Autonomist Socialists (DE–SA)			79,002	0.23	0	0	0	New
	Pensioners' Party (PP)			39,545	0.12	0	0	0	±0
	New Force (FN)			78,572	0.23	0	0	0	New
	Greens Greens (VV)			35,743	0.11	0	0	0	±0
	Sardinian Action Party–Sardinia Nation (PSd'Az–SN)			32,822	0.10	0	0	0	−1
	Others			160,025	0.46	0	0	0	–
Total				33,871,262	100.00	232	83	315	–

Leaders' races

References

1. ↑ Gingrich, Newt; Armey, Dick (1994). Contract With America: The Bold Plan. 
2. ↑ Ricolfi, Luca (2005). Dossier Italia: a che punto è il 'contratto con gli italiani. Il mulino. 
3. ↑ Including one deputy of the Italian Republican Party
4. ↑ Buonomo, Giampiero (2001). "Cercansi candidati per 14 seggi. La speranza della (lista) civetta". Diritto&Giustizia edizione online.   – via Questia (subscription required)
5. ↑ Including the results of SVP and SVP–Olive Tree
6. ↑ 13,106,860 votes for The Olive Tree, 175,635 votes for the SVP–Olive Tree and 126,177 votes for the SVP
7. ↑ 38.70% of the votes for The Olive Tree, 0.52% of the votes for the SVP–Olive Tree and 0.37% of the votes for the SVP

External links

• Repubblica.it: About 2001 Election (in Italian)
• Corriere della Sera: About 2001 Election (in Italian)
• CNN.com: About 2001 Election
• Minister of Internal Affairs of Italy: 2001 Election Results, Chamber of Deputies (in Italian)
• Minister of Internal Affairs of Italy: 2001 Election Results, Senate of the Republic (in Italian)