The 2001 Italian general election was 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 ...

on 13 May 2001 to elect members of the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

and the Senate of the Republic. The election was won by the centre-right coalition

House of Freedoms The House of Freedoms ( it, Casa delle Libertà, CdL) was a major centre-right political and electoral alliance in Italy, led by Silvio Berlusconi. History The CdL was the successor of the Pole of Freedoms/Pole of Good Government and the Pole f ...

led by

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies f ...

, defeating

Francesco Rutelli Francesco Rutelli (born 14 June 1954) is an Italian journalist and former politician, who is the president of ''Anica'', National Association of Film and Audiovisual Industry, since October 2016. He also chairs the "Centro per un Futuro Sostenib ...

, 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 The 1994 Italian general election was held on 27 and 28 March 1994 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic for the 12th legislature. Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition won a large majority in the Chambe ...

Electoral system

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 In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast the ...

system, whereas the remaining 25% was assigned on

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

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 additional member systems.

General election

Campaign

For this election Berlusconi again ran as leader of the

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and ...

coalition the

( it, La Casa delle Libertà), which included the

Union of Christian and Centre Democrats The Union of the Centre ( it, Unione di Centro, UdC), whose complete name is "Union of Christian and Centre Democrats" (''Unione dei Democratici Cristiani e Democratici di Centro'', UDC), is a Christian-democratic political party in Italy. Lore ...

, the

Northern League Northern League may refer to: Sport Baseball * Northern League (baseball, 1902–71), a name used by several minor leagues that operated in the upper midwestern U.S. and Manitoba from 1902 to 1971 * Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010), an indep ...

, the National Alliance and other parties. On the television interviews programme ''

Porta a Porta ''Porta a Porta'' (literally ''Door-to-door'') is an Italian late night television talk show hosted by the Italian journalist Bruno Vespa and is broadcast on Rai Uno Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated ...

'', 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'' ( en,

Contract with the Italians The Contract with the Italians ( it, italic=yes, Contratto con gli Italiani) is a document presented and signed by Silvio Berlusconi on May 8, 2001, during the television program ''Porta a Porta'' conducted by Bruno Vespa. With it Silvio Berluscon ...

), an idea copied outright by his advisor Luigi Crespi from the

Newt Gingrich Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U. ...

'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 An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

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

Coalitions' leaders

Results

Chamber of Deputies

Overall results

Proportional and FPTP results

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

FPTP and proportional results by constituency

Senate of the Republic

Overall results

FPTP and proportional results by constituency

Maps

2001 Italian general election - Simple Results

Leaders' races

References

External links

Repubblica.it: About 2001 Election
(in Italian)
Corriere della Sera: About 2001 Election
(in Italian)
CNN.com: About 2001 ElectionMinister 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) {{Elections in Italy

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

General election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

May 2001 events in Europe