The 2008 Italian general election was the second in which Italian and dual citizens living outside the country could vote by postal ballot in international electoral districts. Twelve members of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and six members of the Italian Senate were elected in this way.
Italian and dual citizens in North America and Central America (including the Caribbean) elected one member of the Italian Senate. The winning candidate was Basilio Giordano from Silvio Berlusconi's party, known as the People of Freedom.
All electors could vote for a political list and also cast a first preference vote for a specific candidate. The party with the highest number of list votes won the Senate seat, and the winning party's candidate with the highest number of first preference votes was declared elected.
Four electoral lists contested the North and Central American Senate division. The same lists also fielded candidates for the Chamber of Deputies and North and Central America.
The governing centre-left Democratic Party ran a united slate, as did Berlusconi's right-wing opposition list. The moderately conservative Union of the Centre (UDC), formerly aligned with Berlusconi, ran a separate list, as did a small coalition of right-wing and far-right parties called The Right–Tricolour Flame.
All of the party lists fielded two candidates.
Berlusconi's electoral coalition won a narrow plurality, defeating the Democratic Party by only 793 votes. Basilio Giordano received the most votes of the candidates on Berlusconi's list and was declared elected.
Democratic Party incumbent Renato Turano actually received more first preference votes than Giordano, but, as his party list was defeated, he was not returned to office.[10]
Party | Votes | % | Senators | |
---|---|---|---|---|
People of Freedom | 38,896 | 44.96 | 1 | |
Democratic Party | 38,103 | 44.04 | ||
Union of the Centre | 7,330 | 8.47 | ||
The Right–Tricolour Flame | 2,193 | 2.53 | ||
Total valid votes | 86,522 | 100.00 |
People of Freedom candidate preference votes | |
---|---|
Basilio Giordano (elected) | 13,083 |
Augusto Sorriso | 8,699 |
Democratic Party candidate preference votes | ||
---|---|---|
(x)Renato Turano | 15,223 | |
Marina Piazzi | 7,431 |
Union of the Centre candidate preference votes | ||
---|---|---|
Massimo Seracini | 2,194 | |
Vittorio Coco | 1,791 |
The Right–Tricolour Flame candidate preference votes | ||
---|---|---|
Giuseppe Cirnigliaro | 544 | |
Franco Misuraca | 461 |
Source: ARCHIVIO STORICO DELLE ELEZIONI - Consultazione dati: Senato 13/04/2008, Area ESTERO, Ripartizione AMERICA SETTENTRIONALE E CENTRALE, Ministerio dell'Interno, Government of Italy, accessed 27 July 2011. Voters were not required to give a preference vote for any candidate.
More than 90 per cent of the total votes were cast in the United States of America and Canada. The Democratic Party won narrow victory in the United States, Mexico, and Nicaragua, but was defeated everywhere else. The People of Freedom won a narrow victory in Canada; this was a significant shift from the 2006 election, when the centre-left had won by a credible margin.
Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Democratic Party | 0 | 0.00 | |
People of Freedom | 0 | 0.00 | |
Union of the Centre | 0 | 0.00 | |
The Right–Tricolour Flame | 0 | 0.00 | |
Total valid votes | 0 | 0.00 |
Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Democratic Party | 0 | 0.00 | |
People of Freedom | 0 | 0.00 | |
Union of the Centre | 0 | 0.00 | |
The Right–Tricolour Flame | 0 | 0.00 | |
Total valid votes | 0 | 0.00 |
Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Democratic Party | 0 | 0.00 | |
People of Freedom | 0 | 0.00 | |
Union of the Centre | 0 | 0.00 | |
The Right–Tricolour Flame | 0 | 0.00 | |
Total valid votes | 0 | 0.00 |
Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Democratic Party | 0 | 0.00 | |
People of Freedom | 0 | 0.00 | |
Union of the Centre | 0 | 0.00 | |
The Right–Tricolour Flame | 0 | 0.00 | |
Total valid votes | 0 | 0.00 |
Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
People of Freedom | 16,184 | 45.15 | |
Democratic Party | 15,794 | 44.06 | |
Union of the Centre | 3,274 | 9.13 | |
The Right–Tricolour Flame | 595 | 1.66 | |
Total valid votes | 35,847 | 42.82 |
Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
People of Freedom | 385 | 55.56 | |
Democratic Party | 248 | 35.79 | |
Union of the Centre | 34 | 4.91 | |
The Right–Tricolour Flame | 26 | 3.75 | |
Total valid votes | 693 | 0.83 |
Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
People of Freedom | 723 | 58.88 | |
Democratic Party | 294 | 23.94 | |
The Right–Tricolour Flame | 140 | 11.40 | |
Union of the Centre | 71 | 5.78 | |
Total valid votes | 1,228 | 1.47 |
Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
People of Freedom | 244 | 65.42 | |
Democratic Party | 99 | 26.54 | |
Union of the Centre | 22 | 5.90 | |
The Right–Tricolour Flame | 8 | 2.14 | |
Total valid votes | 373 | 0.45 |
Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Democratic Party | 0 | 0.00 | |
People of Freedom | 0 | 0.00 | |
Union of the Centre | 0 | 0.00 | |
The Right–Tricolour Flame | 0 | 0.00 | |
Total valid votes | 0 | 0.00 |
Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
People of Freedom | 584 | 64.82 | |
Democratic Party | 186 | 20.64 | |
The Right–Tricolour Flame | 73 | 8.10 | |
Union of the Centre | 58 | 6.44 | |
Total valid votes | 901 | 1.08 |
Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Democratic Party | 0 | 0.00 | |
People of Freedom | 0 | 0.00 | |
Union of the Centre | 0 | 0.00 | |
The Right–Tricolour Flame | 0 | 0.00 | |
Total valid votes | 0 | 0.00 |
Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
People of Freedom | 44 | 45.36 | |
Democratic Party | 37 | 38.14 | |
Union of the Centre | 14 | 14.43 | |
The Right–Tricolour Flame | 2 | 2.06 | |
Total valid votes | 97 | 0.12 |
Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Democratic Party | 667 | 47.41 | |
People of Freedom | 599 | 42.57 | |
Union of the Centre | 107 | 7.60 | |
The Right–Tricolour Flame | 34 | 2.42 | |
Total valid votes | 1,407 | 1.68 |
Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Democratic Party | 64 | 47.76 | |
People of Freedom | 50 | 37.31 | |
Union of the Centre | 10 | 7.46 | |
The Right–Tricolour Flame | 10 | 7.46 | |
Total valid votes | 134 | 0.16 |
Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
People of Freedom | 129 | 50.99 | |
Democratic Party | 91 | 35.97 | |
Union of the Centre | 25 | 9.88 | |
The Right–Tricolour Flame | 8 | 3.16 | |
Total valid votes | 253 | 0.30 |
Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Democratic Party | 19,254 | 45.00 | |
People of Freedom | 18,832 | 44.01 | |
Union of the Centre | 3,472 | 8.11 | |
The Right–Tricolour Flame | 1,230 | 2.87 | |
Total valid votes | 42,788 | 51.11 |
Note: The country-by-country totals provided by the Italian Ministry of the Interior do not entirely correspond with the final totals provided by the same source. Adding up the country-by-country totals yields the following results: People of Freedom 37,774; Democratic Party 36,734; Union of the Centre 7,087; The Right–Tricolour Flame 2,126. These results are the same as the provisional totals provided by La Repubblica with 120 out of 123 polling districts reporting. It is therefore assumed that the country-by-country totals represent the provisional and not the final totals.