General elections were held in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

on 29 October 1882, with a second round of voting on 5 November.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An expe ...

& Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1047 The "ministerial" left-wing bloc emerged as the largest in Parliament, winning 289 of the 508 seats.Nohlen & Stöver, p1082

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.Nohlen & Stöver, pp1029-1030 This resulted in the number of eligible voters increasing from 621,896 at the 1880 elections to 2,017,829.Nohlen & Stöver, p1049 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. Voters had as many votes as there were candidates, except in constituencies with five seats, in which they were limited to four votes.Nohlen & Stöver, p1039 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.

Campaign

The

Historical Left The Left group ( it, Sinistra), later called Historical Left ( it, Sinistra storica) by historians to distinguish it from the left-wing groups of the 20th century, was a liberal and reformist parliamentary group in Italy during the second half of ...

was led by the

Prime Minister of Italy The Prime Minister of Italy, officially the President of the Council of Ministers ( it, link=no, Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri), is the head of government of the Italian Republic. The office of president of the Council of Ministers is ...

, Agostino Depretis, a prominent member of the Italian politics for decades. The bloc of the

Historical Right The Right group ( it, Destra), later called Historical Right ( it, Destra storica) by historians to distinguish it from the right-wing groups of the 20th century, was an Italian conservative parliamentary group during the second half of the 19th c ...

was led by

Marco Minghetti Marco Minghetti (18 November 1818 – 10 December 1886) was an Italian economist and statesman. Biography Minghetti was born at Bologna, then part of the Papal States. He signed the petition to the Papal conclave, 1846, urging the electio ...

, a conservative politician and former Prime Minister, from

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

. A third large parliamentary group was the

Historical Far-Left The Historical Far Left ( it, Estrema Sinistra Storica), originally known as Far Left ( it, Estrema Sinistra), Radical Extreme ( it, Estrema Radicale), simply The Extreme ( it, L'Estrema), or Party of Democracy ( it, Partito della Democrazia), wa ...

, a far-left organization led by

Agostino Bertani Agostino Bertani (19 October 1812 – 10 April 1886) was an Italian revolutionary and physician during Italian unification. Revolutionary Bertani was born in Milan on 19 October 1812. His father was an administrator for the Napoleonic govern ...

, an Italian revolutionary. The "Ministerial" left-wing bloc emerged as the largest in Parliament, winning 289 of the 508 seats; the Right arrived second with 147 seats. Depretis was confirmed Prime Minister by king

Umberto I Umberto I ( it, Umberto Rainerio Carlo Emanuele Giovanni Maria Ferdinando Eugenio di Savoia; 14 March 1844 – 29 July 1900) was King of Italy from 9 January 1878 until his assassination on 29 July 1900. Umberto's reign saw Italy attempt colo ...

Parties and leaders

Results

References

{{Italian elections General elections in Italy

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...