1996 Italian general election

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All 630 seats in theChamber of Deputies 316 seats needed for a majority 315 seats in theSenate 163 seats needed for a majority[a]
Registered	48,744,846 (C) · 42,889,825(S)
Turnout	40,401,774 (C) · 82.9% (3.4pp) 35,260,803 (S) · 82.2% (3.6pp)
First party Second party   Leader Romano Prodi Silvio Berlusconi Party Independent Forza Italia Alliance The Olive Tree Pole for Freedoms Leader since 6 March 1995 26 January 1994 Leader's seat Bologna (C) Milan (C) Seats won 285 (C) /157 (S) 246 (C) / 116 (S) Seat change 20 (C) /4 (S) 26 (C) /40 (S) Constituency vote 15,747,455 (C) 13,444,978 (S) 15,027,030 (C) 12,185,020 (S) % and swing 42.0% (C) 42.2% (S) 40.1% (C) 37.4% (S) Party vote 13,014,235 (C) 15,772,203 (C) % and swing 34.7% (C) 42.1% (C)   Third party Fourth party   Leader Umberto Bossi Fausto Bertinotti Party Northern League PRC[c] Alliance — — Leader since 4 December 1989 22 January 1994 Leader's seat Lombardy (C)[b] Piedmont (C) Seats won 59 (C) / 27 (S) 35 (C) / 10 (S) Seat change 58 (C) /33 (S) 3 (C) /8 (S) Constituency vote 4,038,239 (C) 3,394,733 (S) 982,505 (C) 934,974 (S) % and swing 10.8% (C) 10.4% (S) 2.6% (C) 2.9% (S) Party vote 3,776,354 (C) 3,213,748 (C) % and swing 10.1% (C) 8.6% (C)
Results of the single-member constituencies in the Chamber of Deputies (left) and Senate (right)
Prime Minister before election Lamberto Dini Independent Prime Minister after the election Romano Prodi The Olive Tree

The1996 Italian general election was held on 21 April 1996 to elect members of theChamber of Deputies and theSenate of the Republic.Romano Prodi, leader of the centre-leftThe Olive Tree, won the election, narrowly defeatingSilvio Berlusconi, who led the centre-rightPole for Freedoms.

For the election, theNorthern League ofUmberto Bossi ran alone after having left theBerlusconi I Cabinet in 1994, causing a crisis which drovePresidentOscar Luigi Scalfaro to appoint atechnocratic cabinet led byLamberto Dini, which in turn lost its parliamentary support in 1995, forcing Scalfaro to dissolve theItalian Parliament. TheCommunist Refoundation Party, led byFausto Bertinotti, made a pre-electoral alliance with The Olive Tree, presenting its own candidates, supported by Prodi's coalition, mainly in some safeleftist constituencies, in exchange for supporting Olive Tree candidates on the other ones, and ensuring external support for a Prodi government.

The intricate electoral system of Italy, nicknamed asMattarellum afterSergio Mattarella, who was the official proponent, provided a 75% of the seats on the Chamber of Deputies (the lower house) as elected by aplurality voting system, whereas the remaining 25% was assigned byproportional representation with a minimum threshold of 4%. If possible, the method associate on the Senate was even more complicated: 75% of seats by uninominal method, and 25% by a special proportional method that actually assigned the remaining seats to minority parties.

In December 1994, following the communication of a new investigation from Milan magistrates that was leaked to the press,Umberto Bossi, leader of theNorthern League, left the coalition claiming that theelectoral pact had not been respected, forcing Berlusconi to resign from office and shifting the majority's weight to the centre-left side. The Northern League also resented the fact that many of its MPs had switched to Forza Italia, allegedly lured by promises of more prestigious portfolios.

Berlusconi remained as caretaker prime minister for a little over a month until his replacement by a technocratic government headed byLamberto Dini. Dini had been a key minister in the Berlusconi cabinet, and Berlusconi said the only way he would support a technocratic government would be if Dini headed it. In the end, Dini was only supported by most opposition parties and not by Forza Italia and Northern League.

In December 1995, Dini resigned as Prime Minister and PresidentOscar Luigi Scalfaro decided to begin consultations to form a government, supported by all the parties in theItalian Parliament to make constitutional reforms. In a TV debate on 19 January 1996, bothSilvio Berlusconi andDemocratic Party of the Left leaderMassimo D'Alema supported constitutional reforms; however, there were many problems on this theme in both coalition, asGianfranco Fini andRomano Prodi wanted a snap election, not sure that the reforms would be helpful for the country. On 16 February 1996, a snap election was called.

On 19 February 1996, the outgoing Prime MinisterLamberto Dini announced that he would run in the election with a new party allied withThe Olive Tree rather than Berlusconi'sPole of Freedoms. Shortly after, Berlusconi claimed that Dini "copied our electoral programme".^[1]

Another important declaration was that ofUmberto Bossi, the leader of the regionalistNorthern League, which was very important in 1994 to help Berlusconi winning the election. Bossi said that his party would not support Berlusconi anymore and run alone in the election. At the same time, Prodi's coalition made a pre-electoral agreement withCommunist Refoundation Party in whichFausto Bertinotti's party undertook to support Prodi's government after the election in case of no parliamentary majority.

On 25 March 1996, Berlusconi organised a manifestation inMilan against taxes (The Tax Day) attended by many Milanese artisans; on the same day inTurin, Prodi was heavily contested during his electoral speech and accused of not wanting to lower taxes.^[2]

← Summary of the 21 April 1996 Chamber of Deputies election results→

Results by party Results by coalition
Coalition		Party		Proportional			First-past-the-post			Total seats	+/–
				Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	The Olive Tree		Democratic Party of the Left (PDS)	7,894,118	21.06	26	15,747,455	42.01	146	172[d]	+48
			Populars for Prodi (PPI–UD–PRI–SVP)	2,554,072	6.81	4			65	69[e]	+18
			Italian Renewal (RI)	1,627,380	4.34	8			18	26[f]	New
			Federation of the Greens (FdV)	938,665	2.50	0			14	14	+3
			The Network (LR)	—	—	0			3	3	−5
			Ladin Autonomist Union (UAL)	—	—	0			1	1	+1
		Total seats				38			247	285	–
	Pole for Freedoms		Forza Italia (FI)	7,712,149	20.57	37	15,027,030	40.08	86	123[g]	−9
			National Alliance (AN)	5,870,491	15.66	28			65	93	−17
			CCD –CDU	2,189,563	5.84	12			28	30[h]	+3
		Total seats				77			169	246	–
	Northern League (LN)	3,776,354	10.07	20	4,038,239	10.77	39	59	−59
	Communist Refoundation Party (PRC)			3,213,748	8.57	20	982,505	2.62	15	35	−3
	South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)			—	—	0	156,708	0.42	3	3	±0
	Southern Action League (LAM)			72,062	0.19	0	82,373	0.22	1	1	±0
	Aosta Valley (VdA)			—	—	0	37,431	0.10	1	1	±0
	Others			1,635,796	4.39	0	1,223,368	3.78	0	0	±0
Total				37,484,398	100.00	155	37,295,109	100.00	475	630	—

← Summary of the 21 April 1996 Senate of the Republic election results→

Results by party Results by coalition
Coalition		Party		First-past-the-post			Proportional Seats	Total seats	+/–
				Votes	%	Seats
	The Olive Tree		Democratic Party of the Left (PDS)	13,444,978	41.21	134	23	102[i]	+26
		Italian People's Party (PPI)	27					−4
		Federation of the Greens (FdV)	14					+7
		Italian Renewal (RI)	11[j]					New
		The Network (LR)	1					−5
		Venetian Autonomy League (LAV)	1					+1
		Sardinian Action Party (PSd'Az)	1					+1
	Total seats						157	–
	Pole for Freedoms		Forza Italia (FI)	12,185,020	37.35	67	49	48[k]	+13
			National Alliance (AN)					43	−4
			Christian Democratic Centre (CCD)					15	+3
			United Christian Democrats (CDU)					10	New
		Total seats						116	–
	Northern League (LN)			3,394,733	10.41	18	9	27	−33
	Progressives			934,974	2.87	10	0	10	−8
	Tricolour Flame (FT)			747,487	2.29	0	1	1	New
	Pannella-Sgarbi List (LPS)			509,826	1.56	0	1	1	±0
	Socialist Party (PS)			286,426	0.88	0	0	0	New
	The Fir –South Tyrolean People's Party –PATT			178,425	0.55	2	0	2	−1
	Clean Hands			109,113	0.33	0	0	0	New
	League for Autonomy – Lombard Alliance			106,313	0.33	0	0	0	New
	North-East Union (UNE)			72,541	0.22	0	0	0	New
	We Sicilians –Sicilian National Front (NS–FNS)			71,841	0.22	0	0	0	New
	Southern Action League (LAM)			66,750	0.20	0	0	0	±0
	Greens Greens			61,434	0.19	0	0	0	±0
	Pensioners' Party (PP)			60,640	0.19	0	0	0	±0
	Social Democracy			60,016	0.18	0	0	0	New
	Federation of Italian Civic Lists			55,793	0.17	0	0	0	New
	Sardigna Natzione (SN)			44,713	0.14	0	0	0	New
	Aosta Valley (VdA)			27,493	0.08	1	0	1	±0
	Piedmont Nation of Europe			26,951	0.08	0	0	0	±0
	Environmentalists			26,756	0.08	0	0	0	New
	Independent Group Freedom (GIL)			23,301	0.07	0	0	0	New
	Union for South Tyrol (UfS)			19,330	0.06	0	0	0	New
	Tuscan Autonomist Movement (MAT)			18,691	0.06	0	0	0	±0
	Pact for the Agro			17,980	0.06	0	0	0	New
	Renovation			16,216	0.05	0	0	0	New
	Right of the People			6,710	0.02	0	0	0	New
	Natural Law Party (PLN)			10,371	0.03	0	0	0	New
	Democrats for Progress			5,688	0.02	0	0	0	New
	Communist Refoundation Party (PRC)			5,681	0.02	0	0	0	—
	Popular Movement of Moralization (MPM)			5,297	0.02	0	0	0	New
	Azure Alps			5,144	0.02	0	0	0	New
	Democratic Alternative for the Roman Castles			4,524	0.01	0	0	0	New
	Progressive People's Party (PPP)			4,450	0.01	0	0	0	±0
	For a Normal Country			3,976	0.01	0	0	0	New
	European Dolomite Region			2,898	0.01	0	0	0	New
	Free North Autonomy			2,411	0.01	0	0	0	New
	Hit the Center			2,178	0.01	0	0	0	New
Total				32,624,584	100.00	232	83	315	—
Source:Ministry of the Interior

• (in Italian)Minister of Internal Affairs of Italy: 1996 Election Results, Chamber of Deputies (compressed ZIP file)
• (in Italian)Minister of Internal Affairs of Italy: 1996 Election Results, Senate of the Republic (compressed ZIP file)

• 1996 elections in Italy
• April 1996 in Italy
• General elections in Italy

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