Bipolarization and Fragmentation:The 2001 Italian Elections

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This article examines the 2001 Italian Parliamentary elections focusing on the electoral system and the transformation of the party system. The current mixed majority-PR system for both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, introduced in 1993, aimed at the bipolarization of the party system and the realization of alternation in government. According to many observers the 2001 election achieved this aim. This may be so if we think the unit of electoral competition is electoral coalition. The center-left coalition, winner of the 1996 coalition, was defeated and Silvio Berlusconi, leader of the center-right coalition, formed his second government after the 1994 election. Two electoral coalitions occupied almost all the single-member districts. But if we see the political party as the unit of electoral competition, the party system is far from bipolarization and is still fragmented. Fragmentation is accelerated in the single member districts because minor parties having difficulty getting seats under the proportional representation can now do so thanks to the electoral strategies and bargaining of the parties composing electoral coalitions. The 1996 elections showed bipolarization of the electoral coalitions and fragmentation of the party system. The 2001 elections confirmed this tendency.
日本選挙学会の論文