Legislative Election in Italy (1880)

The early parliamentary elections of 1880 were held on 16 (first round) and on May 23 (second round). ^[1] 508 members of the Chamber of Deputies of the Kingdom of Italy were elected.

← 1876 1882 →
Legislative Election in Italy (1880)
Elections to the Chamber of Deputies
May 16 and 23, 1880
Turnout	59.38%
Party head	Benedetto Cairoli	Marco Mingetti
The consignment	Left	"Right"
Seats received	218 ( ▼ 196)	171 ( ▲ 77)
Votes	146 096 (40.81%)	135 797 (37.93%)
Change	▼ 27.11%	▲ 9.65%
Past number of seats	414	94
Election result	The ruling party "Left" took first place in the number of seats in parliament

The winner of the election was the ruling liberal Left party , gaining almost 43% of the seats in parliament. ^[2] At the same time, the left, representing the Italian bourgeoisie ^[3] , needed the support of the moderate wing of the opposition liberal-conservative party “Right” in order to secure a parliamentary majority for its cabinet. The third force was a faction of nearly 120 left-wing advocates who disagreed with cooperation with Right and received 20% of the vote. This group later became known as the "Pentarchy" ( La Pentarchia ), as its leadership consisted of five people, including Francesco Crispi , Giuseppe Zanardelli , Benedetto Cairoli , Giovanni Nicoter and Alfredo Baccarini.

Voter activity has grown again, compared to previous elections, albeit slightly. 369,624 people out of 621,896 who had the right to vote took part in the vote (the population of Italy at that time was about 29 million), thus the turnout was 59.38%. ^[four]