2001 Italian general election

The 2001 Italian general election was held in Italy on 13 May 2001 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic. The election was won by the centre-right coalition House of Freedoms led by Silvio Berlusconi, defeating Francesco Rutelli, former mayor of Rome, and leader of the centre-left coalition The Olive Tree, and rising back to power after Berlusconi's first victory in the 1994 Italian general election.

2001 Italian general election

13 May 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
Registered	49,256,295 (C) · 44,499,794 (S)
Turnout	40,085,397 (C) · 81.4% (1.5 pp) 36,189,394 (S) · 81.3% (0.9 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Silvio Berlusconi Francesco Rutelli Fausto Bertinotti Party Forza Italia The Daisy PRC Alliance House of Freedoms The Olive Tree — Leader since 18 January 1994 25 September 2000 22 January 1994 Leader's seat Milan (C) Rome (C) Piedmont (C) Seats won 368 (C) / 176 (S) 241 (C) / 128 (S) 11 (C) / 4 (S) Seat change 96 (C) / 33 (S) 82 (C) / 29 (S) 24 (C) / 6 (S) Constituency vote 16,915,513 (C) 14,406,519 (S) 16,019,388 (C) 13,106,860 (S) Did not run (C) 1,708,707 (S) % and swing 45.6% (C) 5.3 pp 42.5% (S) 5.3 pp 43.2% (C) 1.2 pp 38.7% (S) 3.5 pp Did not run (C) 5.0% (S) 2.1 pp Party vote 18,398,246 (C) 13,169,239 (C) 1,868,659 (C) % and swing 49.6% (C) 2.6 pp 35.7% (C) 1.0 pp 5.0% (C) 3.6 pp
Results of the single-member constituencies in the Chamber of Deputies (left) and Senate (right).
Prime Minister before election Giuliano Amato The Olive Tree Prime Minister after the election Silvio Berlusconi House of Freedoms

Electoral system

The election was regulated by the Mattarella law of 1993, also known as "Mattarellum".

The intricate electoral system, called scorporo, provided 75% of the seats on the Chamber of Deputies (the Lower House) as elected by first-past-the-post system, whereas the remaining 25% was assigned on proportional representation with a minimum threshold of 4%.

The method used for the Senate was even more complicated: 75% of seats by uninominal method, and 25% by a special proportional method that assigned the remaining seats to minority parties. Formally, these were examples of mixed-member majoritarian systems with partial compensation.

General election

Campaign

For this election Berlusconi ran again for Prime Minister as leader of the centre-right House of Freedoms (Italian: La Casa delle Libertà), which included the Forza Italia, National Alliance, Northern League, Christian Democratic Centre, United Christian Democrats and other minor parties. The candidate for Prime Minister of the centre-left Olive Tree (Italian: L'Ulivo) was Francesco Rutelli, former mayor of Rome.

On the television interviews programme Porta a Porta, during the last days of the electoral campaign, Berlusconi created a powerful impression on the public by undertaking to sign a so-called Contratto con gli Italiani (English: Contract with the Italians), an idea copied outright by his advisor Luigi Crespi from the Newt Gingrich's Contract with America introduced six weeks before the 1994 US Congressional election, which was widely considered to be a creative masterstroke in his 2001 campaign bid for prime ministership. In this solemn agreement, Berlusconi claimed his commitment on improving several aspects of the Italian economy and life. Firstly, he undertook to simplify the complex tax system by introducing just two tax rates (33% for those earning over 100,000 euros, and 23% for anyone earning less than that figure: anyone earning less than 11,000 euros a year would not be taxed); secondly, he promised to halve the unemployment rate; thirdly, he undertook to finance and develop a massive new public works programme. Fourthly, he promised to raise the minimum monthly pension rate to 516 euros; and fifthly, he would suppress the crime wave by introducing police officers to patrol all local zones and areas in Italy's major cities. Berlusconi undertook to refrain from putting himself up for re-election in 2006 if he failed to honour at least four of these five promises.

Main coalitions and parties

Coalition		Party		Main ideology	Seats		Party leader	Coalition leader
					C	S
	The Olive Tree		Democrats of the Left (DS)	Social democracy	161	102	Massimo D'Alema	Francesco Rutelli
			Democracy is Freedom (DL)	Social liberalism	102	48	Francesco Rutelli
			The Sunflower (FdV–SDI)	Green politics, social democracy	20	17	Enrico Boselli
			Party of Italian Communists (PdCI)	Communism	20	6	Oliviero Diliberto
			South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)	Regionalism	4	2	Luis Durnwalder
	House of Freedoms		Forza Italia (FI)	Liberal conservatism	117	45	Silvio Berlusconi	Silvio Berlusconi
			National Alliance (AN)	National conservatism	88	42	Gianfranco Fini
			Northern League (LN)	Regionalism	46	18	Umberto Bossi
			White Flower (CCD–CDU)	Christian democracy	18	12	Pier Ferdinando Casini
			Italian Republican Party (PRI)	Liberalism	1	0	Giorgio La Malfa
			New Italian Socialist Party (NPSI)	Social democracy	0	0	Gianni De Michelis
	Communist Refoundation Party (PRC)			Communism	14	3	Fausto Bertinotti
	European Democracy (DE)			Christian democracy	0	10	Sergio D'Antoni
	Bonino List (LB)			Liberalism	0	1	Emma Bonino
	Tricolour Flame (FT)			Neo-fascism	0	1	Pino Rauti
	Italy of Values (IdV)			Anti-corruption politics	0	0	Antonio Di Pietro

Results

Chamber of Deputies

Overall results

← Summary of the 13 May 2001 Chamber of Deputies election results →

Coalition		Party		Proportional			First-past-the-post			Total seats	+/–
				Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	House of Freedoms		Forza Italia (FI)	10,923,431	29.43	62	16,915,513	45.57	132	194	+71
			National Alliance (AN)	4,463,205	12.02	24			75	99	+6
			Northern League (LN)	1,464,301	3.94	0			30	30	−29
			White Flower (CCD–CDU)	1,194,040	3.22	0			40	40	+10
			New Italian Socialist Party (NPSI)	353,269	0.95	0			3	3	New
			Sardinian Reformers (RS)	—	—	0			1	1	+1
			New Sicily (NS)	—	—	0			1	1	New
		Total seats				86			282	368	–
	The Olive Tree		Democrats of the Left (DS)	6,151,154	16.57	31	16,019,388	43.15	105	136	−36
			Democracy is Freedom (DL)	5,391,827	14.52	27			56	83	−12
			The Sunflower (FdV–SDI)	805,340	2.17	0			17	17	–
			Party of Italian Communists (PdCI)	620,859	1.67	0			10	10	New
			South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)	200,059	0.54	0			3	3	±0
			With Illy for Trieste	78,284	0.21	0			1	1	New
		Total seats				58			192	250	–
	Communist Refoundation Party (PRC)			1,868,659	5.03	11	—	—	0	11	−24
	Aosta Valley (VdA)			—	—	0	25,577	0.07	1	1	±0
	Others			3,745,277	9.73	0	4,162,298	11.21	0	0	−1
Total				37,259,705	100.00	155	37,122,776	100.00	475	630	—

Proportional and FPTP results

In 2001 the proportional list exhausted before all the deputies – which the winning party was entitled to – were declared elected.

First-past-the-post

Party or coalition		Votes	%	Seats
	House of Freedoms (CdL)	16,915,513	45.57	282
	The Olive Tree (Ulivo)	16,019,388	43.15	183
	Italy of Values (IdV)	1,487,287	4.01	0
	European Democracy (DE)	1,310,119	3.53	0
	Bonino List (LB)	457,117	1.23	0
	South Tyrolean People's Party–The Olive Tree	190,556	0.51	5
	South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)	173,735	0.47	3
	Venetian Front League (LFV)	173,618	0.47	0
	Tricolour Flame (FT)	121,527	0.33	0
	With Illy for Trieste	78,284	0.21	1
	La Bassa in the Parliament	26,151	0.07	0
	Aosta Valley (VdA)	25,577	0.07	1
	Autonomist Socialists	24,341	0.07	0
	Democrats of the Left (Aosta Valley)	20,452	0.06	0
	Southern Action League (LAM)	19,366	0.05	0
	Buonanno	19,046	0.05	0
	National Social Front (FSN)	16,202	0.04	0
	Forza Italia – Northern League (Aosta Valley)	16,049	0.04	0
	European Republicans Movement (MRE)	15,600	0.04	0
	European Populars	13,447	0.04	0
	Greens Greens	13,220	0.04	0
	Amadu List	12,233	0.03	0
	New Italian Socialist Party (NPSI)	9,663	0.03	0
	Movement of Freedoms	9,006	0.02	0
	Camonica Valley – Basta!	8,257	0.02	0
	People's List	8,091	0.02	0
	Movement for the Confederation of the Communists	6,777	0.02	0
	Alternative List	6,612	0.02	0
	New Force (FN)	6,294	0.02	0
	We Sicilians	6,121	0.02	0
	National Alliance (Aosta Valley)	4,464	0.01	0
	Third Pole for Autonomy	3,491	0.01	0
	Upper Milanese People	1,409	0.00	0
Total		37,259,705	100.00	475
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Proportional

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Forza Italia (FI)	10,923,431	29.43	62
	Democrats of the Left (DS)	6,151,154	16.57	31
	Democracy is Freedom (DL)	5,391,827	14.52	27
	National Alliance (AN)	4,463,205	12.02	24
	Communist Refoundation Party (PRC)	1,868,659	5.03	11
	Northern League (LN)	1,464,301	3.94	0
	Italy of Values (IdV)	1,443,725	3.89	0
	White Flower (CCD–CDU)	1,194,040	3.22	0
	European Democracy (DE)	888,269	2.39	0
	Bonino List (LB)	832,213	2.24	0
	The Sunflower (FdV–SDI)	805,340	2.17	0
	Party of Italian Communists (PdCI)	620,859	1.67	0
	New Italian Socialist Party (NPSI)	353,269	0.95	0
	South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)	200,059	0.54	0
	Tricolour Flame (FT)	143,963	0.39	0
	Venetian Front League (LFV)	74,353	0.20	0
	Pensioners' Party (PP)	68,349	0.18	0
	Sardinian Action Party–Sardigna Natzione (PSd'Az–SN)	34,412	0.09	0
	New Country	34,193	0.09	0
	Abolizione Scorporo	26,917	0.07	0
	Southern Action League (LAM)	23,779	0.06	0
	National Social Front (FSN)	22,985	0.06	0
	Greens Greens	18,262	0.05	0
	New Force (FN)	13,622	0.04	0
	Amadu List	11,517	0.03	0
	European Republicans Movement (MRE)	7,997	0.02	0
	We Sicilians (NS)	7,637	0.02	0
	Movement of Freedoms	6,754	0.02	0
	Free and Strong	6,722	0.02	0
	Autonomist Socialists	6,492	0.02	0
	Basta!	6,332	0.02	0
	Movement for the Confederation of the Communists	5,244	0.01	0
	Third Pole for Autonomy	2,915	0.01	0
Total		37,122,776	100.00	155
Invalid/blank/unassigned votes		2,962,621	–	–
Total		40,085,397	–	–
Registered voters/turnout		49,256,295	81.38	–
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Popular vote (First-past-the-post) CdL   45.57% Olive Tree   43.15% IdV   4.01% DE   3.53% LB   1.23% Others   2.89%

Popular vote (Proportional) FI   29.43% DS   16.57% DL   14.52% AN   12.02% PRC   5.03% LN   3.94% IdV   3.89% CCD–CDU   3.22% DE   2.39% LB   2.24% FdV–SDI   2.17% PdCI   1.67% Others   2.90%

FPTP and proportional results by constituency

Constituency	Total seats	Seats won
		CdL	Ulivo
Abruzzo	11	5	6
Aosta Valley	1		1
Apulia	34	22	12
Basilicata	5		5
Calabria	17	11	6
Campania 1	25	15	10
Campania 2	22	14	8
Emilia-Romagna	32	2	30
Friuli-Venezia Giulia	10	8	2
Lazio 1	32	13	19
Lazio 2	11	11
Liguria	14	5	9
Lombardy 1	31	29	2
Lombardy 2	32	32
Lombardy 3	11	9	2
Marche	12	2	10
Molise	3	2	1
Piedmont 1	19	4	15
Piedmont 2	17	16	1
Sardinia	14	9	5
Sicily 1	20	20
Sicily 2	21	21
Trentino-Alto Adige	8		8
Tuscany	29	2	27
Umbria	7		7
Veneto 1	22	20	2
Veneto 2	15	10	5
Total	475	282	193

Constituency	Total seats	Seats won
		CdL	Ulivo	PRC
Abruzzo	3	2	1
Apulia	10	6	3	1
Basilicata	2	1	1
Calabria	6	3	3
Campania 1	9	5	3	1
Campania 2	7	4	2	1
Emilia-Romagna	9	4	4	1
Friuli-Venezia Giulia	3	2	1
Lazio 1	10	4	5	1
Lazio 2	4	3	1
Liguria	6	2	3	1
Lombardy 1	10	5	4	1
Lombardy 2	10	5	4	1
Lombardy 3	4	3	1
Marche	4	2	2
Molise	1	1
Piedmont 1	6	4	1	1
Piedmont 2	6	4	2
Sardinia	4	2	2
Sicily 1	7	5	2
Sicily 2	7	4	3
Trentino-Alto Adige	2	1	1
Tuscany	10	5	4	1
Umbria	2	2
Veneto 1	8	4	3	1
Veneto 2	5	3	2
Total	155	86	58	11

Senate of the Republic

Overall results

← Summary of the 13 May 2001 Senate of the Republic election results →

Coalition		Party		First-past-the-post			Proportional (Seats)	Total seats	+/–
				Votes	%	Seats
	House of Freedoms		Forza Italia (FI)	14.406.519	42.57	152	24	82	+40
			National Alliance (AN)					45	+2
			White Flower (CCD–CDU)					29	+4
			Northern League (LN)					17	−10
			Italian Republican Party (PRI)					1	+1
			New Italian Socialist Party (NPSI)					1	New
			Tricolour Flame (FT)					1	–
		Total seats						176	–
	The Olive Tree		Democrats of the Left (DS)	13,282,495	39.22	72	51	64	−38
			Democracy is Freedom (DL)					43	−5
			Federation of the Greens (FdV)					8	−6
			Italian Democratic Socialists (SDI)					6	–
			Party of Italian Communists (PdCI)					2	New
			South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)					1	–
			Independent candidates					4	–
		Total seats						128	–
	Communist Refoundation Party (PRC)			1,708,707	5.04	0	4	4	−6
	European Democracy (DE)			1,066,908	3.15	0	2	2	New
	Italy of Values (IdV)			1,140,489	3.37	0	1	1	New
	Bonino List (LB)			677,725	2.00	0	0	0	−1
	League for Autonomy – Lombard League (LAL)			308,559	0.91	0	1	1	+1
	Tricolour Flame (FT)			340,221	1.00	0	0	0	−1
	Venetian Front League (LFV)			138,134	0.41	0	0	0	New
	South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)			126.177	0.37	2	0	2	±0
	Va' pensiero Padania			119,058	0.35	0	0	0	New
	National Social Front (FSN)			98,132	0.29	0	0	0	New
	Autonomist Socialists – European Democracy (SA–DE)			79,002	0.23	0	0	0	New
	Pensioners' Party (PP)			39,545	0.12	0	0	0	±0
	New Force (FN)			78,572	0.23	0	0	0	New
	Greens Greens			35,743	0.11	0	0	0	±0
	Sardinian Action Party – Sardigna Natzione (PSd'Az–SN)			32,822	0.10	0	0	0	−1
	Aosta Valley (VdA)			32,429	0.10	0	1	1	±0
	Filograna List for Salento			21,857	0.06	0	0	0	New
	We Sicilians (NS)			20,761	0.06	0	0	0	±0
	Southern Action League (LAM)			19,914	0.06	0	0	0	±0
	Basta!			19,913	0.06	0	0	0	New
	Liberal Popular Party			10,301	0.03	0	0	0	New
	Amadu List			9,203	0.03	0	0	0	New
	Alternative List			7,704	0.02	0	0	0	–
	Forza Chiappetta			6,932	0.02	0	0	0	New
	Die Freiheitlichen (dF)			5,354	0.02	0	0	0	–
	Franco Greco List			4,284	0.01	0	0	0	New
	Movement of Freedoms			4,023	0.01	0	0	0	New
	Third Pole for Autonomy			2,392	0.01	0	0	0	New
	Movement for the Confederation of the Communists			2.159	0.01	0	0	0	New
	Justice and Progress			950	0.00	0	0	0	New
	Grand Ducal Tuscany			625	0.00	0	0	0	New
	Italian Constitutional Party (PACI)			175	0.00	0	0	0	New
	Independents			4,975	0.02	0	0	0	New
Total				32,624,584	100.00	232	83	315	±0
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Popular vote CdL   42.53% Olive Tree   38.70% PRC   5.04% IdV   3.37% DE   3.15% LB   2.00% Others   5.21%

FPTP and proportional results by constituency

Constituency	Total seats	Seats won
		CdL	Ulivo	Others
Piedmont	17	12	5
Aosta Valley	1			1
Lombardy	35	33	2
Trentino-Alto Adige	6	1	5
Veneto	17	16	1
Friuli-Venezia Giulia	5	5
Liguria	6	2	4
Emilia-Romagna	15	1	14
Tuscany	14	1	13
Umbria	5		5
Marche	6	2	4
Lazio	21	15	6
Abruzzo	5	4	1
Molise	2	1	1
Campania	22	14	8
Apulia	16	15	1
Basilicata	5		5
Calabria	8	6	2
Sicily	20	20
Sardinia	6	4	2
Total	232	152	79	1

Constituency	Total seats	Seats won
		Ulivo	CdL	PRC	Others
Piedmont	6	4	2
Lombardy	12	9		1	2
Trentino-Alto Adige	1		1
Veneto	6	6
Friuli-Venezia Giulia	2	2
Liguria	3	1	2
Emilia-Romagna	6		5	1
Tuscany	5		4	1
Umbria	2		2
Marche	2	1	1
Lazio	7	5	2
Abruzzo	2	2
Campania	8	4	2	1	1
Apulia	6	6
Basilicata	2		2
Calabria	3	3
Sicily	7	6			1
Sardinia	3	2	1
Total	83	51	24	4	4

Leaders' races

2001 Italian general election (C): Milan Centre
Candidate		Coalition	Party	Votes	%
	Silvio Berlusconi	House of Freedoms	FI	42,098	53.66
	Gianni Rivera	The Olive Tree	Dem	28,651	36.52
	Benedetto Della Vedova		LB	4,874	6.21
	Adriano Ciccioni		IdV	2,835	3.61
Total				78,458	100.0
Turnout				81,412	80.39
	Centre-right hold
Source: Ministry of the Interior

2001 Italian general election (C): Rome – Praenestine
Candidate		Coalition	Party	Votes	%
	Francesco Rutelli	The Olive Tree	DL	36,457	56.73
	Elio Vito	House of Freedoms	FI	25,463	39.62
	Pietro Tagliatesta		IdV	2,348	3.65
Total				64,268	100.0
Turnout				66,479	77.44
	Centre-left hold
Source: Ministry of the Interior

External links

• Repubblica.it: About 2001 Election (in Italian)
• Corriere della Sera: About 2001 Election (in Italian)
• CNN.com: About 2001 Election
• Minister of Internal Affairs of Italy: 2001 Election Results, Chamber of Deputies (in Italian)
• Minister of Internal Affairs of Italy: 2001 Election Results, Senate of the Republic (in Italian)