1865 Italian general election

General elections were held in Italy on 22 October 1865, with a second round of voting on 29 October.[1] It was the second one in the history of Italy.

1865 Italian general election

22–29 October 1865
All 443 seats to the Chamber of Deputies of the Kingdom of Italy
Leader Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora Urbano Rattazzi Giuseppe Mazzini Party Historical Right Historical Left Historical Far Left Seats won 183 156 15 Seat change 159 94 1 Popular vote 114,208 98,708 13,242 Percentage 42.0% 36.3% 4.9%
Prime Minister before election Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora Historical Right Elected Prime Minister Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora Historical Right

Electoral campaign

The Historical Right was led by the former Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia, Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora, a long-time general who fought during the Italian unification.

On the other hand, the bloc of the Historical Left was led by Urbano Rattazzi, a liberal politician who was between the founders of the Italian left-wing parliamentary group.

In opposition to the two main blocs there were a third party known as The Extreme, a far-left coalition, under the leadership of Giuseppe Mazzini, an Italian revolutionary and a key figure of the Unification.

On 22 and 29 October, only 504,263 men of a total population of around 23 million were entitled to vote.[2] Right-wing candidates emerged as the largest bloc in Parliament with around 41% of the 443 seats.[3] They were largely aristocrats representing rentiers from the north of the country, and held moderate political views including loyalty to the crown and low government spending;[4] the general La Marmora was appointed Prime Minister by the king Victor Emmanuel II.

Parties and leaders

Party		Ideology	Leader
	Historical Right	Conservatism, Monarchism	Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora
	Historical Left	Liberalism, Centrism	Urbano Rattazzi
	Historical Far Left	Republicanism, Radicalism	Giuseppe Mazzini

Results

← Summary of October 1865 Chamber of Deputies election results →

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/−
	Historical Right	114,208[lower-alpha 1]	42.0	183	−159
	Historical Left	98,708[lower-alpha 1]	36.3	156	+94
	Historical Far Left	13,242[lower-alpha 1]	4.9	15	+1
	Independents	45,792[lower-alpha 1]	16.8	89	–
Invalid/blank votes		12,888	–	–	–
Total		271,923	100	443	±0
Registered voters/turnout		504,263	53.9	–	–
Source: Corriere della Sera

1. Estimate

Popular vote Historical Right   42.0% Historical Left   36.3% Independent   16.8% Historical Far Left   4.9%

Parliamentary seats Historical Right   41.2% Historical Left   35.2% Independent   20.1% Historical Far Left   3.5%

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1047 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Nohlen & Stöver, p1049
3. Nohlen & Stöver, p1082
4. Nohlen & Stöver, p1028