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
  Majority party Minority party
 
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 Left243,31970.2414+182
Historical Right97,72628.294−182
Others5,5301.60±0
Invalid/blank votes11,245
Total358,253100508±0
Registered voters/turnout605,00759.2
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
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