The 1994 Italian general election was held on 27 and 28 March 1994 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic for the 12th legislature. Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition won a large majority in the Chamber of Deputies but just missed winning a majority in the Senate. The Italian People's Party, the renamed Christian Democracy (DC), which had dominated Italian politics for almost half a century, was decimated. It took only 29 seats versus 206 for the DC two years earlier—easily the worst defeat a sitting government in Italy has ever suffered, and one of the worst ever suffered by a Western European governing party.

Quick Facts Registered, Turnout ...

1994 Italian general election

← 1992 27–28 March 1994 1996 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 630 seats in the Chamber of Deputies 316 seats needed for a majority All 315 elective seats in the Senate 163 seats needed for a majority[lower-alpha 1]
Registered	48,135,041 (C) · 41,795,730 (S)
Turnout	41,546,290 (C) · 86.3% (1.1 pp) 35,873,375 (S) · 85.8% (1.0 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Silvio Berlusconi Achille Occhetto Mario Segni Party Forza Italia PDS Segni Pact Alliance Pole of Freedoms / Pole of Good Government Progressives Pact for Italy Leader since 18 January 1994 21 June 1988[lower-alpha 2] 5 January 1994 Leader's seat Roma Centrale (C) Borgo Panigale (C) Sardegna (C)[lower-alpha 3] Seats won 366 (C) / 156 (S) 213 (C) / 122 (S) 46 (C) / 31 (S) Constituency vote 17,746,612 (C) 14,110,705 (S) 12.632,680 (C) 10,881,320 (S) 6,019,038 (C) 5,519,090 (S)  % and swing 46.1% (C) 42.6% (S) 32.8% (C) 32.9% (S) 15.6% (C) 16.7% (S) Party vote 16,585,516 (C) 13,308,244 (C) 6,098,986 (C)  % and swing 42.8% (C) 34.3% (C) 15.8% (C)
Results of the single-member constituencies in the Chamber of Deputies (left) and Senate (right).
Prime Minister before election Carlo Azeglio Ciampi Independent Prime Minister after the election Silvio Berlusconi Forza Italia

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A new electoral system was introduced in these elections, after a referendum in 1993 which repealed the "supermajority clause" concerning Senate elections.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 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 Progressives coalition unless there was an alternative.

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 World War II.

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 Progressives 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.

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

Overall results

More information Coalition, Party ...

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

Results by party Results by coalition
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 9]	17,746,612	46.09	87	111[lower-alpha 10]	New
			Christian Democratic Centre (CCD)						21	27	New
			National Alliance (AN)	5,214,133	13.47	23[lower-alpha 11]			87	110	+75
			Northern League (LN)	3,235,248	8.36	11[lower-alpha 12]			107	118	+62
		Total seats				64			302	366	–
	Progressives		Democratic Party of the Left (PDS)	7,881,646	20.36	38[lower-alpha 13]	12.632,680	32.81	87	125[lower-alpha 14]	+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 15]	−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)			—	—	0	43,700	0.11	1	1	±0
Total										630	–

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Detailed results

This section needs expansion with: more detailed breakdown of "others". You can help by adding to it. (August 2022)

More information Party or coalition, Votes ...

First-past-the-post

Party or coalition		Votes	%	Seats
	Progressives (P)	12,632,680	32.81	164
	Pole of Freedoms (PdL)	8,767,720	22.77	164
	Pact for Italy (PpI)	6,019,038	15.63	4
	Pole of Good Government (PdBG)	5,732,890	14.89	129
	National Alliance (AN)	2,566,848	6.67	8
	Forza Italia (FI)	679,154	1.76	1
	Pannella List (LP)	432,667	1.12	0
	South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)	188,017	0.49	3
	Social Democracy for the Freedoms (PSDI–FDS)	147,493	0.38	0
	Southern Action League (LAM)	46,820	0.13	1
	Aosta Valley (VdA)	43,700	0.11	1
	Others	1,247,131	3.24	0
Total		38,504,158	100.00	475
Source: Ministry of the Interior

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More information Party, Votes ...

Proportional

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Forza Italia (FI)	8,136,135	21.01	30
	Democratic Party of the Left (PDS)	7,881,646	20.36	38
	National Alliance (AN)	5,214,133	13.47	23
	Italian People's Party (PPI)	4,287,172	11.07	29
	Northern League (LN)	3,235,248	8.36	11
	Communist Refoundation Party (PRC)	2,343,946	6.05	11
	Segni Pact (PS)	1,811,814	4.68	13
	Pannella List (LP)	1,359,283	3.51	0
	Federation of the Greens (FdV)	1,047,268	2.70	0
	Italian Socialist Party (PSI)	849,429	2.19	0
	The Network (LR)	719,841	1.86	0
	Democratic Alliance (AD)	456,114	1.18	0
	South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)	231,842	0.60	0
	Social Democracy for Freedoms (PSDI–FDS)	179,495	0.46	0
	Program Italy (PI)	151,328	0.39	0
	Lombard Alpine League (LAL)	136,782	0.35	0
	Venetian Autonomy League (LAV)	103,764	0.27	0
	Southern Action League (LAM)	59,873	0.15	0
	Others	517,780	1.34	0
Total		38,720,893	100.00	155
Source: Ministry of the Interior

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More information Popular vote (First-past-the-post) ...

Popular vote (First-past-the-post) P   32.81% PdL   22.77% PpI   15.63% PdBG   14.89% AN   6.67% FI   1.76% Pannella   1.12% Others   4.35%

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More information Popular vote (Proportional) ...

Popular vote (Proportional) FI–CCD   21.01% PDS   20.36% AN   13.47% PPI   11.07% LN   8.36% PRC   6.05% Segni   4.68% Pannella   3.51% FdV   2.70% PSI   2.19% Rete   1.86% AD   1.18% Others   3.56%

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FPTP results by constituency

More information Constituency, Total seats ...

Constituency	Total seats	Seats won
		PdL–PdBG	P	PpI	Others
Abruzzo	11	1	10
Aosta Valley	1				1
Apulia	34	23	10		1
Basilicata	5	1	4
Calabria	17	7	10
Campania 1	25	10	15
Campania 2	22	7	12	3
Emilia-Romagna	32	3	29
Friuli-Venezia Giulia	10	10
Lazio 1	32	29	3
Lazio 2	11	11
Liguria	14	7	7
Lombardy 1	31	31
Lombardy 2	32	32
Lombardy 3	11	10	1
Marche	12		12
Molise	3	2	1
Piedmont 1	19	14	5
Piedmont 2	17	17
Sardinia	14	9	4	1
Sicily 1	20	16	4
Sicily 2	21	21
Trentino-Alto Adige	8	5			3
Tuscany	29		29
Umbria	7		7
Veneto 1	22	22
Veneto 2	15	14	1
Total	475	302	164	4	5

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PR results by constituency

More information Constituency, Total seats ...

Constituency	Total seats	Seats won
		PdL–PdBG	P	PpI
Abruzzo	3	2		1
Apulia	10	1	5	4
Basilicata	2	1		1
Calabria	6	2	2	2
Campania 1	8	4	2	2
Campania 2	7	4	1	2
Emilia-Romagna	9	4	4	1
Friuli-Venezia Giulia	3	1	1	1
Lazio 1	10	1	6	3
Lazio 2	3	1	1	1
Liguria	6	3	2	1
Lombardy 1	10	4	4	2
Lombardy 2	11	5	3	3
Lombardy 3	4	2	1	1
Marche	4	2	1	1
Molise	1			1
Piedmont 1	6	3	2	1
Piedmont 2	6	3	2	1
Sardinia	4	1	1	2
Sicily 1	7	3	2	2
Sicily 2	7	3	2	2
Trentino-Alto Adige	2	1		1
Tuscany	11	5	4	2
Umbria	2	2
Veneto 1	8	3	2	3
Veneto 2	5	3	1	1
Total	155	64	49	42

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Contrary to its success in the Chamber, the Pole 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, Paolo Emilio Taviani and Leo Valiani).

The Senate finally gave Berlusconi 159 votes in favour and 153 against.^[5]

• Carter, Nick (1998). Italy: The Demise of Post-War Partyocracy. State University of New York Press. pp. 71–94. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
• 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. Routledge. pp. 40–56. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)