1876 Italian general election

The Italian general election of 1876 was held in Italy on 5 November, with a second round of voting on 12 November.[1]

1876 Italian general election

5–12 November 1876
All 508 seats to the Italian Chamber of Deputies
Leader Agostino Depretis Marco Minghetti Party Historical Left Historical Right Leader's seat Stradella Legnago Seats won 414 94 Seat change 182 182 Popular vote 243,319 97,726 Percentage 70.2% 28.2% Swing 23.8% 25.4%
Results by electoral college
Prime Minister before election Agostino Depretis Historical Left Elected Prime Minister Agostino Depretis Historical Left

Electoral campaign

The Historical Left was led by the current Prime Minister of Italy, Agostino Depretis, who became head of the government and early elections were called.

On the other hand, the bloc of the Historical Right was led by Marco Minghetti, former Prime Minister from Bologna.

The election on 5 and 12 November was a snap one, and it came after MPs from Tuscany became dissatisfied with the government of Minghetti following its refusal to intervene in the financial problems of Florence. The government was defeated on a vote on nationalising railways on 18 March 1876 and was forced to resign and Depretis was appointed Prime Minister.[2] For the first time, the left-wing won an election, taking 414 of the 508 seats, of which 12 were extreme left-wingers.[2] As opposed to the previous right-wing governments, whose members 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,[3] the left-wing government represented the bourgeoisie of the south of the country and supported low taxation, secularism, a strong foreign policy and public jobs.[2]

Only 605,007 men of a total population of around 28 million were entitled to vote.[4]

Parties and leaders

Party		Ideology	Leader
	Historical Left	Liberalism, Centrism	Agostino Depretis
	Historical Right	Conservatism, Monarchism	Marco Minghetti

Results

← Summary of May 1876 Chamber of Deputies election results →

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/−
	Historical Left	243,319	70.2	414	+182
	Historical Right	97,726	28.2	94	−182
	Others	5,530	1.6	0	±0
Invalid/blank votes		11,245	–	–	–
Total		358,253	100	508	±0
Registered voters/turnout		605,007	59.2	–	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Popular vote Historical Left   70.2% Historical Right   28.2% Others   1.6%

Parliamentary seats Historical Left   81.5% Historical Right   18.5%

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1047 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Nohlen & Stöver, p1029
3. Nohlen & Stöver, p1028
4. Nohlen & Stöver, p1049