2008 Italian general election

A snap general election will be held in Italy on April 13 and April 14, 2008 after President Giorgio Napolitano dissolved parliament on February 6, 2008 following the defeat of the government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi in a January 2008 Senate vote, and a unsuccessful tentative appointment of Franco Marini with the aim to change the current electoral law. Under Italian law, elections must be held within 70 days of the dissolution.

Electoral system

Italians will vote in this election with the same electoral system used in 2006, based on proportional representation. This electoral systems allows parties to formally define coalitions. The coalition with a plurality of votes nationwide then obtains an absolute majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies. This is not in Senate's case, as absolute majorities of seats are awarded regionally.

Parties

Major competitors in the election are expected to be Silvio Berlusconi, as leader of the centre-right opposition coalition, and Walter Veltroni, leader of the Democratic Party. The right under Berlusconi has a good chance to win the election; it is leading by a significant margin in opinion polls.

Following the calling of the election, Veltroni stated his party will not make any alliance in either Chamber, choosing instead to run alone with its own platform, and challenged Berlusconi to do likewise with his Forza Italia party. The main four left-wing parties not part of the PD decided to contest the election together under the banner of The Left – The Rainbow. On February 8, Berlusconi announced Forza Italia and Gianfranco Fini's National Alliance will run together under the common symbol of the People of Freedom party, being regionally allied with Lega Nord.

On February 13, Veltroni announced to have reached an agreement with the Italy of Values, led by Antonio Di Pietro, which agreed for an electoral alliance with the Democratic Party, accepting also to join the Democratic Party parliamentary groups after the election. On February 21 the Italian Radicals announced an agreement with the Democratic Party, accepting to present themselves in list with the latter, under the agreement they will have nine MPs elected in the Parliament, and appointment of Emma Bonino as Minister in case of victory.

The following lists will run in the election:

• People of Freedom-Lega Nord-Movement for Autonomy Alliance – Silvio Berlusconi
• Democratic Party incl. Italian Radicals-Italy of Values Alliance – Walter Veltroni
• The Left – The Rainbow – Fausto Bertinotti
• Union of the Centre – Pier Ferdinando Casini
• Tricolour Right – Daniela Santanchè
• Socialist Party – Enrico Boselli
• Democratic Union for Consumers – Bruno De Vita
• Citizens' Political Movement – Stefano Montanari,
• Critical Left – Flavia D'Angeli
• Communist Workers' Party – Marco Ferrando
• Communist Alternative Party – Fabiana Stefanoni
• New Force-Social Idea Movement Alliance – Roberto Fiore
• Lega Sud Ausonia – Gianfranco Vestuto
• Italian Liberal Party – Stefano De Luca

Union of Christian and Centre Democrats was invited to support Berlusconi, but refused and decided to run on its own instead. White Rose originally planned to run alone with Bruno Tabacci as their PM candidate, but shortly before the filing deadline, they decided to form joint lists with the UDC.