1865 Italian general election

1865 Italian general election

← 1861 22–29 October 1865 1867 →
All 443 seats to the Chamber of Deputies of the Kingdom of Italy
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora Urbano Rattazzi Giuseppe Mazzini Party Historical Right Historical Left Historical Far Left Seats won 183 156 15 Seat change 159 94 1 Popular vote 114,208 98,708 13,242 Percentage 42.0% 36.3% 4.9%
Prime Minister before election Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora Historical Right Elected Prime Minister Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora Historical Right

General elections were held in Italy on 22 October 1865, with a second round of voting on 29 October.^[1] It was the second one in the history of Italy.

Electoral campaign[]

The Historical Right was led by the former Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia, Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora, a long-time general who fought during the Italian unification.

On the other hand, the bloc of the Historical Left was led by Urbano Rattazzi, a liberal politician who was between the founders of the Italian left-wing parliamentary group.

In opposition to the two main blocs there were a third party known as The Extreme, a far-left coalition, under the leadership of Giuseppe Mazzini, an Italian revolutionary and a key figure of the Unification.

On 22 and 29 October, only 504,263 men of a total population of around 23 million were entitled to vote.^[2] Right-wing candidates emerged as the largest bloc in Parliament with around 41% of the 443 seats.^[3] They 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;^[4] the general La Marmora was appointed Prime Minister by the king Victor Emmanuel II.

Parties and leaders[]

Results[]

← Summary of October 1865 Chamber of Deputies election results →

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/−
	Historical Right	114,208[a]	42.0	183	−159
	Historical Left	98,708[a]	36.3	156	+94
	Historical Far Left	13,242[a]	4.9	15	+1
	Independents	45,792[a]	16.8	89	–
Invalid/blank votes		12,888	–	–	–
Total		271,923	100	443	±0
Registered voters/turnout		504,263	53.9	–	–
Source: Corriere della Sera

References[]