1994 Italian general election

A new electoral system was introduced in these elections, after a referendum in 1993 which repealed the "supermajority clause" concerning Senate elections. The clause had meant that Senate elections were conducted using de facto pure proportional representation. As a result of this change, the Senate now elected 75% of its seats via plurality voting system in single-member constituencies, with the remaining 25% assigned proportionally in a compensatory nature. Parliament passed a new electoral law for the Chamber of Deputies to bring it more in line with the Senate, assigning 75% of the seats via plurality voting, with the remaining 25% assigned proportionally in a supplementary manner using a minimum threshold of 4% of the vote. The new electoral system was nicknamed the Mattarellum, after Sergio Mattarella, who was the official proponent.

In 1992, the five pro-western governing parties, Christian Democracy, the Italian Socialist Party, the Italian Social-Democratic Party, the Italian Republican Party and the Italian Liberal Party, lost much of their electoral strength almost overnight due to a large number of judicial investigations concerning the financial corruption of many of their foremost members. This led to a general expectation that upcoming elections would be won by the Democratic Party of the Left, the heirs to the former Italian Communist Party, and their Alliance of Progressives coalition unless there was an alternative.

Berlusconi during a Forza Italia rally.

On 26 January 1994, the media magnate Silvio Berlusconi announced his decision to enter politics, ("enter the field", in his own words) presenting his own political party, Forza Italia, on a platform focused on defeating the Communists. His political aim was to convince the voters of the Pentapartito, (i.e. the usual five governing parties) who were shocked and confused by Mani Pulite scandals, that Forza Italia offered both novelty and the continuation of the pro-western free market policies followed by Italy since the end of the 2nd World War.

Shortly after he decided to enter the political arena, investigators into the Mani Pulite affair were said to be close to issuing warrants for the arrest of Berlusconi and senior executives of his business group. During his years of political career Berlusconi has repeatedly stated that the Mani Pulite investigations were led by communist prosecutors who wanted to establish a soviet-style government in Italy.[1][2]

In order to win the election Berlusconi formed two separate electoral alliances: Pole of Freedoms (Polo delle Libertà) with the Northern League (Lega Nord) in northern Italian districts, and another, the Pole of Good Government (Polo del Buon Governo), with the post-fascist National Alliance (Alleanza Nazionale; heir to the Italian Social Movement) in central and southern regions.[3] In a shrewd pragmatic move, he did not ally with the latter in the North because the League disliked them. As a result, Forza Italia was allied with two parties that were not allied with each other.

Berlusconi launched a massive campaign of electoral advertisements on his three TV networks. He subsequently won the elections, with Forza Italia garnering 21% of the popular vote, the highest percentage of any single party.[4] One of the most significant promises that he made in order to secure victory was that his government would create "one million more jobs".

On the other side, the center-left Alliance of Progressive led by Achille Occhetto, also called the Joyful War Machine, was composed by the two party born from the dissolution of the Italian Communist Party: the Democratic Party of the Left and Communist Refoundation Party. Since the alliance was sure of victory, based his campaign accusing the communicative power of Silvio Berlusconi.

At the election Berlusconi's coalition won a decisive victory over the progressive one, becoming the first centre-right alliance to win a general election in Italy since the end of the Second World War. The Pole of Freedoms won in the main regions of Italy: in the North the strongest parties were the regionalist Northern League and Forza Italia, which was also able to win in all provinces of Sicily, while in the South the National Alliance received more votes. The Alliance of Progressive confirmed its predominance in the "Red Belt" regions of central Italy, and in the South.

Chamber of Deputies

← Summary of the 27 March 1994 Chamber of Deputies election results →

Coalition		Party		Proportional			First-past-the-post			Total seats	+/–
				Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Pole of Freedoms – Pole of Good Government		Forza Italia (FI)	8,136,135	21.01	30[lower-alpha 6]	17,746,612	46.09	87	111[lower-alpha 7]	New
			Christian Democratic Centre (CCD)						21	27	New
			National Alliance (AN)	5,214,133	13.47	23[lower-alpha 8]			87	110	+75
			Northern League (LN)	3,235,248	8.36	11[lower-alpha 9]			107	118	+62
		Total seats				64			302	366	–
	Alliance of Progressives		Democratic Party of the Left (PDS)	7,881,646	20.36	38[lower-alpha 10]	12.632,680	32.81	87	125[lower-alpha 11]	+17
			Communist Refoundation Party (PRC)	2,343,946	6.05	11			27	38	+4
			Federation of the Greens (FdV)	1,047,268	2.70	0			11	11	−5
			Italian Socialist Party (PSI)	849,429	2.19	0			15	15[lower-alpha 12]	−77
			The Network (LR)	719,841	1.86	0			8	8	−4
			Democratic Alliance (AD)	456,114	1.18	0			16	16	New
		Total seats				49			164	213	–
	Pact for Italy		Italian People's Party (PPI)	4,287,172	11.07	29	6,019,038	15.63	4	33	−146
			Segni Pact (PS)	1,811,814	4.68	13			0	13	New
		Total seats				42			4	46	–
	South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)			231,842	0.60	0	188,017	0.49	3	3	±0
	Southern Action League (LAM)			59,873	0.15	0	46,820	0.13	1	1	+1
	Aosta Valley (VdA)			N/A	N/A	0	43,700	0.11	1	1	±0
Total										630	–

Senate of the Republic

← Summary of the 27 March 1994 Senate of the Republic election results →

Coalition		Party		First-past-the-post			Proportional (Seats)	Total seats	+/–
				Votes	%	Seats
	Pole of Freedoms – Pole of Good Government		Northern League (LN)	13,342,940[lower-alpha 13]	40.34[lower-alpha 14]	128	28	60	+35
			National Alliance (AN)					48	+32
			Forza Italia (FI)					36[lower-alpha 15]	New
			Christian Democratic Centre (CCD)					12	New
		Total seats						156	–
	Alliance of Progressives		Democratic Party of the Left (PDS)	10,881,320	32.90	96	26	76[lower-alpha 16]	+12
			Communist Refoundation Party (PRC)					18	−2
			Italian Socialist Party (PSI)					9[lower-alpha 17]	−40
			Federation of the Greens (FdV)					7	+3
			Democratic Alliance (AD)					6	New
			The Network (LR)					6	+3
		Total seats						122	–
	Pact for Italy (PpI)			5,519,090	16.69	3	28	31	−64
	Pannella List (LP)			767,765	2.32	0	1	1	+1
	Pensioners' Party (PP)			250,637	0.76	0	0	0	±0
	Lombard Alpine League (LAL)			246,046	0.74	0	1	1	±0
	South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)			217,137	0.66	3	0	3	±0
	Venetian Autonomy League (LAV)			165,370	0.50	0	0	0	−1
	Federalist Greens (VF)			100,418	0.30	0	0	0	±0
	Sardinian Action Party (PSd'Az)			88,225	0.27	0	0	0	−1
	Natural Law Party (PLN)			86,579	0.26	0	0	0	New
	Social Democracy for Freedoms (PSDI–FDS)			80,264	0.24	0	0	0	−3
	The League of Angela Bossi			72,455	0.22	0	0	0	New
	Greens Greens (VV)			68,218	0.21	0	0	0	±0
	Veneto Autonomous Region Movement (MVRA)			64,149	0.19	0	0	0	±0
	Magris List (Magris)			61,400	0.19	1	0	1	New
	Southern Action League (LAM)			54,395	0.16	0	0	0	±0
	League for Piedmont			49,505	0.15	0	0	0	New
	Aosta Valley (VdA)			27,493	0.08	1	0	1	±0
	Others			931,143	2.82	0	0	0	−17
Total				33,074,549	100.00	232	83	315	–

Popular vote PdL–PdBG   33.61% AdP   32.90% PpI   16.69% AN   6.28% Pannella   2.32% Others   8.20%

Source: 1994 Italian general election, Senate of the Republic – Ministry of the Interior

Contrary to its success in the Chamber, the Pole of Freedoms failed to win a majority in the Senate. Nevertheless, the Berlusconi I Cabinet obtained a vote of confidence also in the Senate, thanks to the abstention of four PPI senators (Vittorio Cecchi Gori, Stefano Cusumano, Luigi Grillo and Tomaso Zanoletti), who decided not to take part in 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 Berlusconi 159 votes in favour and 153 against.[11]

• Carter, Nick (1998). Italy: The Demise of Post-War Partyocracy. Political Parties and the Collapse of the Old Orders. State University of New York Press. pp. 71–94.
• Diamanti, Ilvo; Mannheimer, Renato, eds. (1994). Milano a Roma: guida all'Italia elettorale del 1994. Donzelli.
• Parker, Simon (1996). Electoral reform and political change in Italy, 1991–1994. The New Italian Republic: From the Fall of the Berlin Wall to Berlusconi. Routledge. pp. 40–56.

• (in Italian) Minister of Internal Affairs of Italy: 1994 Election Results, Chamber of Deputies - uninominal (compressed ZIP file)
• (in Italian) Ministry of Internal Affairs of Italy: 1994 Election Results, Chamber of Deputies - proportional
• (in Italian) Minister of Internal Affairs of Italy: 1994 Election Results, Senate of the Republic