A Simulative Assessment of the Italian Electoral System

During the last sixty years, the Italian electoral system has changed three times, trying to find a suitable compromise between governability and representativeness. From 1948 to 1992, the Italian Parliament was elected by proportional representation. From 1993 to 2005, a new mixed electoral system (three quarters of the seats were elected by plurality, while the remaining seats were filled by proportional representation) was adopted. Finally, in December 2005, a new electoral system reintroduced the proportional representation and introduced for the first time a majority prize. The aim of our analysis is twofold. We want to compare the goodness of these electoral systems and, at the same time, to check whether other electoral systems would have provided a better performance.

Key words: Italian Parliament, electoral systems, simulations.