1882 Italian general election

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]

1882 Italian general election

← 1880 29 October 1882 (first round)
5 November 1882 (second round)
1886 →

All 508 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
255 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Agostino Depretis Marco Minghetti
Party Historical Left Historical Right
Seats won 289 147
Seat change Increase71 Decrease24

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Agostino Bertani Giuseppe Zanardelli
Party Historical Far Left Dissident Left
Seats won 44 19
Seat change New Decrease100

Constituencies used for the elections

Prime Minister before election

Agostino Depretis
Historical Left

Elected Prime Minister

Agostino Depretis
Historical Left

Electoral system

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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]

Campaign

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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.

Parties and leaders

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Party Ideology Leader
Historical Left Liberalism Agostino Depretis
Historical Right Conservatism Marco Minghetti
Historical Far Left Radicalism Agostino Bertani
Dissident Left Progressivism Giuseppe Zanardelli

Results

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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.

 
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Historical Left289+71
Historical Right147−24
Historical Far Left44New
Dissident Left19−100
Others9+9
Total5080
Valid votes1,161,20594.88
Invalid/blank votes62,6465.12
Total votes1,223,851100.00
Registered voters/turnout2,017,82960.65
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

References

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