Politics and political participation in Italy - statistics & facts

The institutional arrangement and government volatility

Italy, the Italian Republic, is a parliamentary republic and a democracy since 1946. The legislative power is in the hands of the two houses of Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic, the executive power is exercised by the Council of Ministers, that is headed by the Prime Minister, while the judiciary power is led by the High Council of the Judiciary. The President of the Republic is the head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. His primary role is providing checks and balances to the three branches of government and representing national unity. Every Italian national above 18 years of age has the right to vote in the general elections. However, citizens do not directly elect neither the president nor the prime minister. The parliament in joint session elects the head of state every seven years, who usually appoints the leader of the parliamentary majority prime minister. This is not a strict requirement, as there have been some governments of experts and technicians without any party or coalition affiliation in cases of hard economic or political crisis.

As many governments have relied on unstable and contentious majorities, 68 different cabinets headed by 31 prime ministers have served in the past 78 years. Due to this extreme volatility, Italy ranks among the least European countries in terms of government duration, with each executive approximately in office for one year only. However, the solid parliamentary majority obtained by the center-right coalition in 2022 has already secured Meloni’s government a longer lifespan.

Giorgia Meloni and the opposition leader Elly Schlein: women’s leadership in politics

Brothers of Italy was founded in 2012 following a split from Forza Italia organized by its most conservative members, including Giorgia Meloni. FdI is considered the heir of the Italian Social Movement (MSI), a party dissolved in 1991 that claimed to defend fascism’s legacy. Even though FdI’s leadership publicly distanced from these allegations, they still embraced a national conservative ideology. After performing poorly during the first years, the party recorded a steady growth after 2020, standing out for its hard opposition to Mario Draghi’s national unity government. Meloni condemned the management of the COVID-19 health emergency and criticized Italy’s supposed subordination to EU institutions.

FdI’s main contender and second-largest party in the parliament is the Democratic Party (Partito Democratico – PD). Founded in 2008 on the ashes of the Italian Communist Party, it is the major Italian center-left party. Besides a short break from 2018 to 2019, PD has always been part of a governing coalition between 2013 and 2022, for almost ten years. The current party’s leader, Elly Schlein, is the first woman becoming PD’s secretary. Even though female members of the parliament are only one third of the total, the two main parties nationwide have a woman as their leader. In a country where barriers to women in undertaking a political career are high, this can mark a critical milestone towards a larger female empowerment in politics.

The challenge of abstentionism

Rising abstentionism is the most critical issue affecting the Italian political landscape. Disaffection to politics is growing as more and more citizens feel distant from the state’s institutions. In fact, 23 percent of Italians have a positive confidence in the parliament and only 14 percent in political parties. A significant number of people do not inform themselves about any political topics. Some of the most common reasons for not keeping up with them are the lack of interest and a distrust of the political system. This is reflected in the elections’ turnout, too. Participation in elections has always recorded figures above 80 percent from the re-establishment of democracy in 1946 to the mid-2000s, when the share of people not casting their ballots increased. In the last general election, more than one third of registered voters did not show up at the polling stations, registering the lowest turnout in a parliamentary election in the republican history. However, the 2024 European election recorded even worse figures, as more than half of the Italians decided to abstain. The perception that politics is highly corrupted, and the belief that nothing will change for one’s personal life, are among the main reasons that motivate abstentionism.

However, about 13 million Italians keep themselves updated on politics on a daily basis, and many actively participate in the political life of the country. Almost six million people declared to have followed a political debate in 2023, and 1.5 million participated in a mass meeting. Some other political and social activities widespread among Italians include discussing politics on the Internet, taking part in political or party protests, and in public demonstrations.