2001 Italian general election

2001 Italian general election

← 1996 13 May 2001 2006 →
← outgoing members elected members →
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[a]
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

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.

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.

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,^[1] 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.^[2] 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.

This section is in a table format that may be better if supplemented with prose. You can help by adding a prose summary of the table(s). Editing help is available. (January 2022)

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

Results by party Results by coalition
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[3]	+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	—

In 2001 the proportional list exhausted before all the deputies – which the winning party was entitled to – were declared elected.^[4]

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

Results by party Results by coalition
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)[5]					1	–
		Total seats						176	–
	The Olive Tree[6]		Democrats of the Left (DS)	13,282,495[7]	39.22[8]	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

• 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)