1992 Italian general election

The 1992 Italian general election was held on 5 and 6 April 1992. 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. Most of its members split between the more democratic socialist-oriented Democratic Party of the Left (PDS), while a minority who did not want to renounce the communist tradition became the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC); between them, they gained around 4% less than what the already declining PCI had obtained in the 1987 Italian general election, despite PRC absorbing the disbanded Proletarian Democracy (DP).

1992 Italian general election

5–6 April 1992
All 630 seats in the Chamber of Deputies  · 315 seats in the Senate
Registered	47,486,964 (C) · 41,053,543 (S)
Turnout	41,479,764 (C) · 87.4% (1.4 pp) 35,633,367 (S) · 86.8% (1.5 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Arnaldo Forlani Achille Occhetto Bettino Craxi Party DC PDS PSI Leader since 22 February 1989 21 June 1988 15 July 1976 Leader's seat Ancona (C) Rome (C) Milan (C) Seats won 206 (C) / 107 (S) 107 (C) / 66 (S) 92 (C) / 49 (S) Seat change 46 (C) / 18 (S) 51 (C) / 45 (S) 2 (C) / 5 (S) Popular vote 11,637,569 (C) 9,088,494 (S) 6,317,962 (C) 5,682,888 (S) 5,343,808 (C) 4,523,873 (S) Percentage 29.7% (C) 27.3% (S) 16.1% (C) 17.0% (S) 13.6% (C) 13.6% (S) Swing 4.6 pp (C) 5.3 pp (S) 10.5 pp (C) 11.3 pp (S) 0.7 pp (C) 2.6 pp (S)   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Umberto Bossi Sergio Garavini Gianfranco Fini Party Northern League PRC MSI Leader since 4 December 1989 10 February 1991 6 July 1991 Leader's seat Milan (C) Rome (C) Rome (C) Seats won 55 (C) / 25 (S) 35 (C) / 20 (S) 34 (C) / 16 (S) Seat change 54 (C) / 24 (S) New party 1 (C) / 0 (S) Popular vote 3,396,012 (C) 2,732,461 (S) 2,204,641 (C) 2,171,950 (S) 2,107,037 (C) 2,171,215 (S) Percentage 8.7% (C) 8.2% (S) 5.6% (C) 6.5% (S) 5.4% (C) 6.5% (S) Swing 8.2 pp (C) 7.8 pp (S) New party 0.4 pp (C) 0.0 pp (S)
Prime Minister before election Giulio Andreotti DC Prime Minister after the election Giuliano Amato PSI

The other major feature was the sudden rise of the Northern League (LN), a federalist party that 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 "long wave" (onda lunga) of Bettino Craxi's now centrist-oriented Italian Socialist Party (PSI), which in the past elections had been forecast next to overcome PCI, seemed to stop. Christian Democracy (DC) and the other traditional government parties, with the exception of the Italian Republican Party (PRI) and the Italian Liberal Party (PLI), 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. The remaining votes and seats were transferred at national level, where they were 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.

Background

In February 1991, the Italian Communist Party (PCI) split into the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS), led by Achille Occhetto, and the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC), headed by Armando Cossutta. Occhetto, leader of the PCI since 1988, stunned the party faithfully assembled in a working-class section of Bologna with a speech heralding the end of Communism, a move now referred to in Italian politics as the svolta della Bolognina (Bolognina turning point). The collapse of the Communist governments in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe had convinced Occhetto that the era of Eurocommunism was over, and he transformed the PCI into a progressive left-wing party, the PDS. A third of the PCI's former members, led by Cossutta, refused to join the PDS, and founded the Communist Refoundation Party.

The coalition ended in 1991 when the Italian Republican Party (PRI) withdrew its support from the coalition over its failure to be given the Ministry of Communications. On 29 March 1991, the 5-party Andreotti VI Cabinet was replaced with the 4-party (quadripartito) Andreotti VII cabinet.

On 17 February 1992, judge Antonio Di Pietro had Mario Chiesa, a member of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), arrested for accepting a bribe from a Milan cleaning firm. The Socialists distanced themselves from Chiesa. Bettino Craxi called Chiesa mariuolo, or "villain", a "wild splinter" of the otherwise clean PSI. Upset over this treatment by his former colleagues, Chiesa began to give information about corruption implicating his colleagues. This marked the beginning of the Mani pulite investigation; news of political corruption began spreading in the press.

In February 1991, the Northern League, which was first launched as an upgrade of the Northern Alliance in December 1989, was officially transformed into a party through the merger of various regional parties, notably including Lombard League and Venetian League, under the leadership of Umberto Bossi. These continue to exist as "national" sections of the federal party.

The Northern League exploited resentment against Rome's centralism (with the famous slogan Roma ladrona, which loosely means "Rome big thief") and the Italian government, common in northern Italy, as many northerners felt that the government wasted resources collected mostly from northerners' taxes. Cultural influences from bordering countries in the North and resentment against illegal immigrants were also exploited. The party's electoral successes began roughly at a time when public disillusionment with the established political parties was at its height. The Tangentopoli corruption scandals, which invested most of the established parties, were unveiled from 1992 on. Contrarily to what many pundits observed at the beginning of the 1990s, the Northern League became a stable political force and it is by far the oldest party among those represented in the Italian Parliament.

The Northern League's first electoral breakthrough was at the 1990 regional elections, but it was with the 1992 general election that the party emerged as a leading political actor. Having gained 8.7% of the vote, 56 deputies, and 26 senators, it became the fourth largest party of the country and within the Italian Parliament.

Parties and leaders

Party		Ideology	Leader	Seats in 1987
				C	S	Total
	Christian Democracy (DC)	Christian democracy	Arnaldo Forlani	234	125	359
	Democratic Party of the Left (PDS)	Democratic socialism	Achille Occhetto	177	125	302
	Italian Socialist Party (PSI)	Social democracy	Bettino Craxi	94	45	139
	Italian Social Movement (MSI)	Neo-fascism	Gianfranco Fini	35	16	51
	Italian Republican Party (PRI)	Republicanism	Giorgio La Malfa	21	8	29
	Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI)	Social democracy	Franco Nicolazzi	17	6	23
	Pannella List (LP)	Liberalism	Marco Pannella	13	3	16
	Federation of the Greens (FdV)	Green politics	Carlo Ripa di Meana	13	1	14
	Italian Liberal Party (PLI)	Liberalism	Renato Altissimo	11	3	14
	Northern League (LN)	Regionalism	Umberto Bossi	1	1	2
	Communist Refoundation Party (PRC)	Communism	Sergio Garavini	New
	The Network (LR)	Anti-corruption	Leoluca Orlando	New

Results

Christian Democracy (DC) suffered a significant swing against it, but the coalition it had led prior to the elections managed to retain a small majority. Opposition parties won a significant amount of support; however, the largest opposition party, the Italian Communist Party (PCI), had suffered an internal crisis after the fall of the Soviet Union, with the bulk of the party reforming into the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and a minority forming the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC). Collectively, they suffered a 4% swing against them, with the PDS losing a third of its seats compared to 1987, and the opposition was divided. The biggest winner of the election was Northern League, which was not inclined to alliances at the time due to its separatist leanings.

The resulting parliament was therefore weak and difficult to bring to an agreement, and lasted only two years before new elections were held in 1994. This was accelerated by the mani pulite scandal, which began shortly before the election and expanded in scope throughout 1992 and 1993. The scandal implicated vast sections of almost every major political party in Italy in extensive corruption. This had catastrophic consequences for the political landscape as the governing parties became extremely unpopular.

The 1992–1994 parliamentary term also saw the first major change to the Italian electoral system since the late 1940s, with a 1993 referendum abolishing the clause of the electoral law which required candidates to win two-thirds of votes to be elected in the Senate's single-member districts. This essentially transformed the Senate electoral law from de facto pure proportional representation to a mixed-member majoritarian system. Parliament subsequently passed a new electoral law establishing a similar system for the Chamber of Deputies.

Chamber of Deputies

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Christian Democracy	11,637,569	29.65	206	−28
	Democratic Party of the Left	6,317,962	16.10	107	−70
	Italian Socialist Party	5,343,808	13.62	92	−2
	Northern League	3,395,384	8.65	55	+54
	Communist Refoundation Party	2,201,428	5.61	35	New
	Italian Social Movement	2,107,272	5.37	34	−1
	Italian Republican Party	1,723,756	4.39	27	+6
	Italian Liberal Party	1,121,854	2.86	17	+6
	Federation of the Greens	1,093,037	2.79	16	+3
	Italian Democratic Socialist Party	1,066,672	2.72	16	−1
	The Network	730,293	1.86	12	New
	Pannella List	486,344	1.24	7	−6
	Yes Referendum	320,061	0.82	0	New
	Pensioners' Party	220,509	0.56	0	New
	South Tyrolean People's Party	198,431	0.51	3	0
	Hunting – Fishing – Environment	193,228	0.49	0	0
	Federalism–Pensioners Living Men (UV–PSd'Az–SSK–UfS)	154,987	0.39	1	–1
	Lega Autonomia Veneta	152,396	0.39	1	New
	Housewives–Pensioners League	134,093	0.34	0	New
	Lega Alpina Lumbarda	90,875	0.23	0	New
	Lega Alpina Piemont	69,648	0.18	0	New
	Southern Action League	53,993	0.14	0	New
	Veneto Autonomous Region Movement	49,027	0.12	0	0
	Venice Union	48,659	0.12	0	New
	Federalist Greens	42,884	0.11	0	New
	Aosta Valley	41,404	0.11	1	0
	Lega Lombardia Europea Terra Libera	33,579	0.09	0	New
	Dolchi-Fosson Group	30,724	0.08	0	New
	League of Leagues	28,008	0.07	0	New
	Greens Greens	25,862	0.07	0	New
	Love Party	22,401	0.06	0	New
	Independentist Sardinian Party	15,106	0.04	0	New
	Alleanza Lombarda	15,054	0.04	0	New
	Piemont Liber	11,263	0.03	0	New
	Political Movement for the Defence of Motorists	10,109	0.03	0	New
	Lega Marche	8,035	0.02	0	New
	Lega Lazio	5,999	0.02	0	New
	Lega Padana Emilia-Romagna	5,832	0.01	0	New
	Territorial Development Cooperation	5,722	0.01	0	New
	Christian Democracy Party	5,046	0.01	0	New
	Tuscan Autonomist Movement	4,422	0.01	0	New
	Southern League of Italy	4,054	0.01	0	New
	Europa 2000 Party	3,380	0.01	0	New
	Living Together	2,848	0.01	0	New
	Justicialist Party	2,818	0.01	0	New
	Freedom Movement	2,418	0.01	0	New
	European Motorists' Movement	2,108	0.01	0	New
	National Protest League	1,472	0.00	0	New
	Renewal	1,208	0.00	0	New
	Southern League for National Unity	464	0.00	0	New
Total		39,243,506	100.00	630	0
Valid votes		39,243,506	94.70
Invalid/blank votes		2,195,438	5.30
Total votes		41,438,944	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		47,435,689	87.36
Source: JSTOR 45132579 Romano, Brocchini

Popular vote DC   29.66% PDS   16.11% PSI   13.62% LN   8.65% PRC   5.62% MSI   5.37% PRI   4.39% PLI   2.86% FdV   2.79% PSDI   2.71% Rete   1.86% LP   1.24% Others   5.14%

Seats DC   32.70% PDS   16.98% PSI   14.60% LN   8.73% PRC   5.56% MSI   5.40% PRI   4.29% PLI   2.70% FdV   2.54% PSDI   2.54% Rete   1.90% LP   1.11% Others   0.95%

Results by constituency

Constituency	Total seats	Seats won
		DC	PDS	PSI	LN	PRC	MSI	PRI	PLI	FdV	PSDI	Others
Turin	35	7	5	5	6	3	2	2	1	1	1	2
Cuneo	12	4	1	2	3	1			1
Genoa	19	5	4	2	3	1	1	1	1	1
Milan	48	10	7	7	10	3	2	3	1	2	1	2
Como	19	5	2	3	6	1	1			1
Brescia	21	7	2	2	6	1	1	1		1
Mantua	9	3	2	1	2	1
Trentino	10	3		1	1					1		4
Verona	28	10	3	3	5	1	1	1	1	1		2
Venice	15	5	2	2	3	1		1		1
Udine	12	4	1	2	3		1				1
Bologna	27	5	9	3	2	2	1	2	1	1		1
Parma	18	4	6	2	3	1	1	1
Florence	17	4	6	2	1	2	1	1
Pisa	16	4	4	2	1	1	1	1	1	1
Siena	7	2	3	1		1
Ancona	16	6	4	2		1	1	1		1
Perugia	11	3	4	2		1	1
Rome	54	17	10	7		3	5	3	2	2	2	3
L'Aquila	16	6	3	2		1	1		1		1	1
Campobasso	5	3	1	1
Naples	44	18	6	8		2	3	1	2	1	1	2
Benevento	19	9	2	5			1	1			1
Bari	25	10	3	5		1	2	1	1	1	1
Lecce	18	7	3	3		1	2	1			1
Potenza	6	4	1	1
Catanzaro	24	9	4	4		2	1	1	1		2
Catania	29	12	3	5		1	2	2	1		1	2
Palermo	27	12	2	3		1	1	1	1		2	4
Cagliari	19	7	3	3		1	1	1	1		1	1
Aosta Valley	1											1
Trieste	3	1	1	1
Total	630	206	107	92	55	35	34	27	17	16	16	25

Senate of the Republic

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Christian Democracy	9,088,494	27.27	107	−18
	Democratic Party of the Left	5,682,888	17.05	64	−37
	Italian Socialist Party	4,523,873	13.57	49	+13
	Northern League	2,732,461	8.20	25	+24
	Communist Refoundation Party	2,171,950	6.52	20	New
	Italian Social Movement	2,171,215	6.51	16	0
	Italian Republican Party	1,565,142	4.70	10	+2
	Federation of the Greens	1,027,303	3.08	4	+3
	Italian Liberal Party	939,159	2.82	4	+1
	Italian Democratic Socialist Party	853,895	2.56	3	−2
	Yes Referendum	332,318	1.00	0	New
	The Network	239,868	0.72	3	New
	Pensioners' Party	215,889	0.65	0	New
	Lega Alpina Lumbarda	192,450	0.58	1	New
	Federalism–Pensioners Living Men (UV–PSd'Az–SSK–UfS)	174,713	0.52	1	0
	South Tyrolean People's Party	168,113	0.50	3	+1
	Pannella List	166,708	0.50	0	−3
	For Calabria	143,976	0.43	2	New
	Lega Autonomia Veneta	142,446	0.43	1	New
	Housewives-Pensioners League	134,327	0.40	0	New
	Hunting – Fishing – Environment	116,395	0.35	0	0
	Lega Lombardia Europea Terra Libera	52,366	0.16	0	New
	Veneto Autonomous Region Movement	50,938	0.15	0	New
	Southern Action League	49,769	0.15	0	New
	For Molise	48,352	0.15	1	New
	Federalist Greens	47,051	0.14	0	New
	Venice Union	42,967	0.13	0	New
	Without Borders	36,115	0.11	0	New
	Aosta Valley	34,150	0.10	1	0
	Alleanza Lombarda	32,748	0.10	0	New
	Dolchi-Fosson Group	31,175	0.09	0	New
	Greens Greens	29,217	0.09	0	New
	League of Leagues	24,051	0.07	0	New
	Love Party	16,875	0.05	0	New
	Independentist Sardinian Party	13,426	0.04	0	New
	Lega Marche	7,578	0.02	0	New
	Lega Lazio	7,445	0.02	0	New
	Freedom Movement	6,793	0.02	0	New
	Tuscan Autonomist Movement	6,546	0.02	0	New
	European Motorists' Movement	3,678	0.01	0	New
	Political Movement for the Defence of Motorists	3,266	0.01	0	New
	Southern League for National Unity	492	0.00	0	New
Total		33,328,581	100.00	315	0
Valid votes		33,328,581	93.53
Invalid/blank votes		2,304,786	6.47
Total votes		35,633,367	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		41,053,543	86.80
Source: Ministry of the Interior, Brocchini

Popular vote DC   27.27% PDS   17.05% PSI   13.57% LN   8.20% PRC   6.52% MSI   6.51% PRI   4.70% FdV   3.08% PLI   2.82% PSDI   2.56% Others   7.72%

Seats DC   33.97% PDS   20.32% PSI   15.56% LN   7.94% PRC   6.35% MSI   5.08% PRI   3.17% FdV   1.27% PLI   1.27% PSDI   0.95% Others   4.13%

Results by constituency

Constituency	Total seats	Seats won
		DC	PDS	PSI	LN	PRC	MSI	PRI	FdV	PLI	PSDI	Others
Piedmont	24	6	4	4	4	2	1	1	1	1
Aosta Valley	1											1
Lombardy	48	14	7	7	11	3	1	2	1	1		1
Trentino-Alto Adige	7	2		1	1							3
Veneto	23	9	3	3	4	1	1	1				1
Friuli-Venezia Giulia	7	3	1	2	1
Liguria	10	3	3	1	2	1
Emilia-Romagna	21	5	9	2	2	2		1
Tuscany	19	5	7	3		2	1	1
Umbria	7	2	3	1		1
Marche	8	3	3	1		1
Lazio	27	9	7	4		2	3	1	1
Abruzzo	7	4	2	1
Molise	2	1										1
Campania	30	11	5	5		2	3	1	1	1	1
Apulia	21	7	4	4		1	3	1			1
Basilicata	7	4	1	2
Calabria	11	5		2		1	1					2
Sicily	26	10	3	4		1	2	1		1	1	3
Sardinia	9	4	2	2								1
Total	315	107	64	49	25	20	16	10	4	4	3	13