1994 Italian Senate election in Lombardy

1994 Italian Senate election in Lombardy

← 1992 March 27, 1994 1996 →
All 47 Lombard seats in the Italian Senate
Majority party Minority party   Leader Silvio Berlusconi Achille Occhetto Party Forza Italia Democratic Party of the Left Alliance Pole of Freedoms Alliance of Progressives Last election 14 seats, 26.5% sum of supporters[1] 19 seats, 36.0% sum of the parties[2] Seats won 35 6 Seat change 21 13 Popular vote 2,491,623 1,291,179 Percentage 43.6% 22.6% Swing 17.1% 13.4%
Plurality before election DC New local majority Pole of Freedoms

Lombardy renewed its delegation to the Italian Senate on March 27, 1994. This election was a part of national Italian general election of 1994 even if, according to the Italian Constitution, every senatorial challenge in each Region is a single and independent race.

The election was won by the new Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition called Pole of Freedoms, which obtained a local landslide victory electing all its candidates.

Background[]

This election was the first one of the so-called Second Republic. If Italy had the strongest political stability in the previous 50 years, in twelve months it probably suffered the deepest democratic change ever in Western Europe. All the parties that ruled the country in the second half of the 20th century collapsed, under the political attack of the Northern League and the judiciary scandal of Mani pulite. After the electoral reform from the proportional representation to a prevalent FPTP system, the political spectrum was reorganized in three poles: the leftist Alliance of Progressives, the centrist Pact for Italy and the centre-rightist Pole of Freedoms. This latter was an alliance between the League and new liberal party Forza Italia of television entrepreneur and A.C. Milan President Silvio Berlusconi.

Berlusconi attacked the Progressives calling them a "communist" alliance, effectively subtracting quite all the former Socialist votes even if the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) was a member of that alliance: the PSI was consequently disbanded after 100 years of history, and the Alliance had little more than the traditional support of the former Italian Communist Party, then Democratic Party of the Left. Obtaining also more moderate votes than Christian Democracy's heir, the Italian People's Party (Pact), Berlusconi ensured the victory of his coalition, that in Lombardy resulted very profitable to the League, which obtained the absolute majority of the senators.

Electoral system[]

The intricate electoral system introduced in 1993, called Mattarella Law, provided 75% of the seats in the Senate as elected by first-past-the-post system, whereas the remaining 25% was assigned by a special proportional method that actually assigned the remaining seats to minority parties.

Redistricting[]

The new electoral law imposed the revision of the outdated design of the constituencies of 1948. After quite a half century, the agricultural south had lost population to the industrial Milan metropolitan area. The Province of Cremona and the Province of Pavia lost a seat, while new constituencies were added in the western and northern Milanese hinterland. The number of constituencies rose from 31 to 35.

Results[]

Coalition	votes	votes (%)	seats	Party	seats	change
Pole of Freedoms	2,491,623	43.6	35	Northern League	26	15
				Forza Italia	8	7
				Christian Democratic Centre	1	1
The Progressives	1,291,179	22.6	6	Democratic Party of the Left	3	4
				Communist Refoundation Party	2	1
				Democratic Alliance	1	=
Pact for Italy	837,082	14.7	3	Italy People's Party	3	9
National Alliance	380,051	6.6	1	National Alliance	1	=
Lombard Alpine League	246,046	4.3	1	Lombard Alpine League	1	=
Pannella List	217,955	3.8	1	Forza Italia	1	1
Others	245,872	4.3	-	Others	-	9
Total coalitions	5,709,808	100.0	47	Total parties	47	1

Sources: Ministry of the Interior, Italian Senate

Constituencies[]

Additional senators[]

• The Progressives

1. (Democratic Party of the Left, 33.2%)
2. (Democratic Party of the Left, 32.3%)
3. (Communist Refoundation Party, 31.7%)
4. Carlo Smuraglia (Democratic Party of the Left, 31.6%)
5. (Communist Refoundation Party, 31.6%)
6. (Democratic Alliance, 30.9%)

• Pact for Italy

1. Francesco Ferrari (Italian People's Party, 22.7%)
2. (Italian People's Party, 21.1%), after his death in 1994 substituted by (Italian People's Party, 19.8%)
3. (Italian People's Party, 20.1%)

• National Alliance

1. (National Alliance, 10.5%)

• Lombard Alpine League

1. Elidio De Paoli (Lombard Alpine League, 7.5%)

• Pannella List

1. (Pannella List–Forza Italia, 5.1%)

Notes[]