1882 Italian general election|
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 Constituencies used for the elections |
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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]
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]
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.
Parties and leaders
Results
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.
References
- ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1047 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
- ^ a b Nohlen & Stöver, p1082
- ^ a b Nohlen & Stöver, pp1029-1030
- ^ Nohlen & Stöver, p1049
- ^ a b Nohlen & Stöver, p1039
