Italian general election, 1994

An early national general election was held in Italy on March 27, 1994 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right won handly the election for the Chamber and only narrowly lost that for the Senate.

The Berlusconi I Cabinet obtained a vote of confidence also in the Senate thanks to the defection of four Senators of the Italian People's Party (Vittorio Cecchi Gori, Stefano Cusumano, Luigi Grillo and Tomaso Zanoletti), who decided not to partecipate to the vote.

The vote of the Senators for life was not decisive as three (Gianni Agnelli, Francesco Cossiga and Giovanni Leone) voted in favour of the government, three were absent (Carlo Bo, Norberto Bobbio and Amintore Fanfani) and five voted against (Giulio Andreotti, Francesco De Martino, Giovanni Spadolini and Paolo Emilio Taviani and Leo Valiani).

The Senate finally gave to Berlusconi 159 votes in favour and 153 against. [ [http://www.ilsole24ore.com/fc?cmd=art&codid=20.0.1906313828&chId=30&artType=Articolo&DocRulesView=Libero Il Sole 24 Ore - Nel 1994 decisivi per Berlusconi tre senatori a vita] .]

Electoral System

The intricate electoral system of Italy, nicknamed as "Mattarellum" (after Sergio Mattarella, who was the official proponent), provided a 75% of the seats on the Chamber of Deputies (the Lower House) as elected by uninominal system, whereas the remaining 25% was assigned on a proportional way with a minimum threshold of 4%.If possible, the method associate on the Senate is even more complicated: 75% of seats by uninominal method, and 25% by a special proportional method that actually assigns the remaining seats to minority parties.

Results

Chamber of Deputies

enate of the Republic

References