1880 Italian general election

1880 Italian general election

16–23 May 1880
All 508 seats to the Chamber of Deputies of the Kingdom of Italy
Majority party Minority party Third party   160x160px Leader Agostino Depretis Marco Minghetti Giuseppe Zanardelli Party Historical Left Historical Right Dissident left-wing Seats won 218 171 119 Seat change 196 77 new party Popular vote 146,096 135,797 70,479 Percentage 40.7% 37.9% 19.7% Swing 29.5% 9.7% new party
400px Results by electoral college
Prime Minister before election Benedetto Cairoli Historical Left Subsequent Prime Minister Benedetto Cairoli Historical Left

General elections were held in Italy on 16 May 1880, with a second round of voting on 23 May.

Electoral campaign

The Historical Left was led by the Prime Minister of Italy, Agostino Depretis, long time Prime Minister of Italy.

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 Dissident Left, composed by former members of the Left, which were against the alliance with the Right. Also known as La Pentarchia (The Pentarchy), its main leader was Giuseppe Zanardelli, a jurisconsult from Brescia.

The Historical Left group emerged as the largest in Parliament, although left-wing dissidents won 119 of the 508 seats, becoming the third parliamentary group. Only 621,896 men of a total population of around 29 million were entitled to vote. Benedetto Cairoli was confirmed Prime Minister by the king Umberto I.

Parties and leaders

Party		Ideology	Leader
	Historical Left	Liberalism, Centrism	Agostino Depretis
	Historical Right	Conservatism, Monarchism	Marco Minghetti
	Dissident Left	Progressivism, Social liberalism	Giuseppe Zanardelli

Results

← Summary of May 1880 Chamber of Deputies election results →

300px
Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/−
	Historical Left	146,096	40.7	218	−196
	Historical Right	135,797	37.9	171	+77
	Dissident Left	70,479	19.7	119	New
	Others	6,147	1.7	0	0
Invalid/blank votes		11,245	–	–	–
Total		369,624	100	508	0
Registered voters/turnout		621,896	59.4	–	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Popular vote
Historical Left			40.7%
Historical Right			37.9%
Dissident Left			19.7%
Others			1.7%

Parliamentary seats
Historical Left			42.9%
Historical Right			33.7%
Dissident Left			23.4%