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

29 October–5 November 1882
All 508 seats to the Chamber of Deputies of the Kingdom of Italy
Leader Agostino Depretis Marco Minghetti Agostino Bertani Party Historical Left Historical Right Historical Far Left Seats won 289 147 44 Seat change 71 24 44 Popular vote 695,147 353,693 105,251 Percentage 56.8% 28.9% 8.6% Swing 16.1% 9.0% 8.6%
Prime Minister before election Agostino Depretis Historical Left Elected Prime Minister Agostino Depretis Historical Left

Electoral system

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]

Electoral campaign

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.

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.

Parties and leaders

Party		Ideology	Leader
	Historical Left	Liberalism, Centrism	Agostino Depretis
	Historical Right	Conservatism, Monarchism	Marco Minghetti
	Historical Far Left	Republicanism, Radicalism	Agostino Bertani
	Dissident Left	Progressivism, Social liberalism	Giuseppe Zanardelli

Results

← Summary of November 1882 Chamber of Deputies election results →

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/−
	Historical Left	695,147[lower-alpha 1]	56.8	289	+71
	Historical Right	353,693[lower-alpha 1]	28.9	147	−24
	Historical Far Left	105,251[lower-alpha 1]	8.6	44	New
	Dissident Left	45,282[lower-alpha 1]	3.7	19	−100
	Others	24,477[lower-alpha 1]	2.0	9	+9
Invalid/blank votes		62,646	–	–	–
Total		1,223,851	100	508	0
Registered voters/turnout		2,017,829	60.7	–	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

1. Estimate

Parliamentary seats Historical Left   56.8% Historical Right   28.9% Historical Far Left   8.6% Dissident Left   3.7% Others   2.0%

References

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