2018 Italian general election

The 2018 Italian general election was held on 4 March 2018 after the Italian Parliament was dissolved by President Sergio Mattarella on 28 December 2017. Voters were electing a 630 members of the Chamber of Deputies in addition to the 315 elective members of the Senate of the Republic for the 18th legislature of the Italian Republic since 1948. The election took place concurrently with the Lombard & Lazio regional elections. No party or coalition gained an absolute majority in the parliament, even though the centre-right coalition won a plurality of seats as a coalition, and the Five Star Movement M5S won a plurality of seats as an individual party.

The centre-right coalition, whose leading party was the right-wing League led by Matteo Salvini, emerged with a plurality of seats in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate, while the anti-establishment M5S led by Luigi Di Maio became the party with the largest number of votes. The centre-left coalition, led by former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of the governing Democratic Party PD, came third; however, no political multiple or party won an outright majority, resulting in a hung parliament.

The 2018 Italian government formation lasted three months and the Conte I Cabinet was formed on 1 June between the M5S and the League, whose leaders both became deputy prime ministers in a populist coalition government led by the M5S-linked self-employed person Giuseppe Conte as Prime Minister of Italy. The 2019 Italian government crisis started when the League withdrew its assistance of the government and the coalition ended with Conte's resignation on 20 August. A new M5S-led coalition was formed with the centre-left PD and the Free and Equal left-wing parliamentary group, with Conte at its head, on 5 September 2019. Amid the 2021 Italian government crisis, the Conte II Cabinet was replaced by a national unity government headed by Mario Draghi.

Campaign

The first phase of the electoral campaign was marked by the statement of President Mattarella to parties for the featured of "realistic and concrete" proposals during the traditional end of the year's message, in which he also expressed the wish for a high participation in the ballot.

The electoral programme of the PD included, among the main points, the introduction of a minimum hourly wage of €10, a measure that would affect 15% of workers, that is those workers who gain not adhere to the national collective agreements, plus a configuration of the contributory wedge for permanent contracts, a relocation allowance and an put in subsidies for the unemployed, a monthly allowance of €80 for parents for each minor child, fiscal detraction of €240 for parents with children, and the progressive reduction of the rates of IRPEF and IRES, respectively the income tax and the corporate tax. Regarding immigration, which had been a major problem in Italy for the previous years, the PD advocated a reduction in migrant flows through bilateral agreements with the countries of origin and pretended to a halt to European Union funding for countries like Hungary and Poland that hold refused to take in any of the 600,000 migrants who have reached Italy through the Mediterranean over the past four years. Among the PD's allies, the CP presents free nursery schools, a tax exemption for corporate welfare, and other measures regarding public health, including the contrast to the long waiting list in hospitals, the abolition of the call "supertickets", and an extension of domestic care for the elderly. +E advocated the re-launch of the process of European integration and federalisation of the European Union towards the formation of the United States of Europe. This was also supported by the PD, with the PD's leader Renzi saying the United States of Europe is the future. In opposition to the PD's policies implemented by Minister of Interior Marco Minniti, +E advocated the social integration of migrants.

The main proposal of the centre-right coalition was a tax reform based on the first appearance of a flat tax; for Berlusconi, it was initially based on the lowest current rate 23% with the threshold raised to €12,000, then proceeding to a slow reduction of the rate, while according to Salvini the tax rate should be only 15%. The economic newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore estimated the make up of this degree at around €25 billion per year calculated with a 20% rate, or €40 billion with 15%. Berlusconi also proposed the cancellation of IRAP, a tax on productivity, plus add of minimum pensions to €1,000, the intro of a "dignity income" to fight poverty, the end of contribution on youth recruitment, adjust to the Fornero Law, which regulated pensions, and the launch of a Marshall Plan for Africa to reduce illegal immigration to Italy. Within FI, there were some representatives of the Animalist Movement led by Michela Vittoria Brambilla, whose main focus was the banning of fur clothing and stricter advice in circuses, free veterinary care, and the defining of an ombudsman for animal rights. The League proposed the prepare replacement of the Fornero Law and the opportunity of retirement with 41 years of contributions, the "scrapping" of tax records for taxpayers in difficulty, an operation that should yield up to €35 billion to the state, and the disbandment of Equitalia, the agency that deals with the collection of taxes, plus the abolition of the limit on the ownership of cash and the regularization of prostitution; moreover, Salvini's main goal was a drastic reduction of illegal immigration by reintroducing border controls, blocking arrivals, and repatriating all migrants who have no correct to stay in Italy. The FdI proposed free nurseries, a check for €400 per month for newborns up to the six years old to increase population growth, parental leave paid to 80% up to the sixth year of birth, increase in salaries and equipment to law enforcement, the increased use of the Italian Army as a measure to fight crime, and a new law on self-defense.

The M5S presented a programme whose main points are the introduction of a basic income, known as "income of citizenship", to fight poverty, a measure that would cost between €15 and €20 billion annually, plus the cut of the public debt by 40 points in relation to GDP in ten years, the adoption of measures to revitalise youth employment, a cut in pensions of over €5,000 net not entirely based on the contribution method, the reduction of IRPEF rates and the acknowledgment of the income tax threshold, the increase in spending on race welfare measures from 1.5 to 2.5% of GDP, and a constitutional law that obliges members of parliament to resign if they mean to modify party. Di Maio also proposed a legislative simplification, starting with the elimination of most 400 laws with a single legislative provision.