1996 Italian general election

1996 Italian general election
← 1994 21 April 1996 2001 →
All 630 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
316 seats needed for a majority
315 seats in the Senate
163 seats needed for a majority[a]
Registered48,744,846 (C) · 42,889,825 (S)
Turnout40,401,774 (C) · 82.9% (Decrease3.4 pp)
35,260,803 (S) · 82.2% (Decrease3.6 pp)
  First party Second party
 
Romano Prodi 1999 (cropped).jpg
Silvio Berlusconi 1996.jpg
Leader Romano Prodi Silvio Berlusconi
Party Independent Forza Italia
Alliance The Olive Tree Pole for Freedoms
Leader since 6 March 1995 18 January 1994
Leader's seat Bologna (C) Milan (C)
Seats won 285 (C) / 157 (S) 246 (C) / 116 (S)
Seat change Increase20 (C) / Increase4 (S) Decrease26 (C) / Decrease40 (S)
Constituency vote 15,747,455 (C)
13,444,978 (S) 		15,027,030 (C)
12,185,020 (S)
% and swing 42.0% (C)
42.2% (S) 		40.1% (C)
37.4% (S)
Party vote 13,014,235 (C) 15,772,203 (C)
% and swing 34.7% (C) 42.1% (C)
  Third party Fourth party
 
Umberto Bossi 1996 (cropped).jpg
Fausto Bertinotti 1996.jpg
Leader Umberto Bossi Fausto Bertinotti
Party Northern League PRC[c]
Alliance — Progressives
Leader since 4 December 1989 22 January 1994
Leader's seat Lombardy (C)[b] Piedmont (C)
Seats won 59 (C) / 27 (S) 35 (C) / 10 (S)
Seat change Decrease58 (C) / Decrease33 (S) Decrease3 (C) / Decrease8 (S)
Constituency vote 4,038,239 (C)
3,394,733 (S) 		982,505 (C)
934,974 (S)
% and swing 10.8% (C)
10.4% (S) 		2.6% (C)
2.9% (S)
Party vote 3,776,354 (C) 3,213,748 (C)
% and swing 10.1% (C) 8.6% (C)
Results of the single-member constituencies in the Chamber of Deputies (left) and Senate (right)
Prime Minister before election

Lamberto Dini
Independent

Prime Minister after the election

Romano Prodi
The Olive Tree

The 1996 Italian general election was held on 21 April 1996 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic. Romano Prodi, leader of the centre-left The Olive Tree, won the election, narrowly defeating Silvio Berlusconi, who led the centre-right Pole for Freedoms.

For the election, the Northern League of Umberto Bossi ran alone after having left the Berlusconi I Cabinet in 1994, causing a crisis which drove President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro to appoint a technocratic cabinet led by Lamberto Dini, which in turn lost its parliamentary support in 1995, forcing Scalfaro to dissolve the Italian Parliament. The Communist Refoundation Party, led by Fausto Bertinotti, made a pre-electoral alliance with The Olive Tree, presenting its own candidates, supported by Prodi's coalition, mainly in some safe leftist constituencies, in exchange for supporting Olive Tree candidates on the other ones, and ensuring external support for a Prodi government.
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