1882 Italian general election

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]

1882 Italian general election

← 1880 29 October 1882 (first round) 5 November 1882 (second round) 1886 →
All 508 seats in the Chamber of Deputies 255 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Agostino Depretis Marco Minghetti Party Historical Left Historical Right Seats won 289 147 Seat change 71 24   Third party Fourth party   Leader Agostino Bertani Giuseppe Zanardelli Party Historical Far Left Dissident Left Seats won 44 19 Seat change New 100
Constituencies used for the elections
Prime Minister before election Agostino Depretis Historical Left Elected Prime Minister Agostino Depretis Historical Left

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

Party		Ideology	Leader
	Historical Left	Liberalism	Agostino Depretis
	Historical Right	Conservatism	Marco Minghetti
	Historical Far Left	Radicalism	Agostino Bertani
	Dissident Left	Progressivism	Giuseppe Zanardelli

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.

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Historical Left			289	+71
	Historical Right			147	−24
	Historical Far Left			44	New
	Dissident Left			19	−100
	Others			9	+9
Total				508	0
Valid votes		1,161,205	94.88
Invalid/blank votes		62,646	5.12
Total votes		1,223,851	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		2,017,829	60.65
Source: Nohlen & Stöver