1994 elections: Berlusconi’s first government

The 1994 elections also swept media magnate Silvio Berlusconi (leader of "Pole of Freedoms" coalition, which included Forza Italia, the regionalist far-right ‘‘Lega Nord’’ party, far-right [ Alleanza Nazionale, Socialist Party New PSI, Democrats' Centre Union and the small Italian Republican Party) into office as Prime Minister. Berlusconi, however, was forced to step down in December 1994 when the Lega Nord withdrew support. The Berlusconi government was succeeded by a technical government headed by Prime Minister Lamberto Dini, which left office in early 1996.

1996 elections

A series of center-left coalitions dominated Italy's political landscape between 1996 and 2001. In April 1996, national elections led to the victory of a center-left coalition under the leadership of Romano Prodi. The Olive Tree included PDS, Italian Popular Party (PPI, the largest surviving piece of the former DC), and other small parties, with "external endorsement" from the communists) Prodi's government became the third-longest to stay in power before he narrowly lost a vote of confidence, by three votes, in October 1998.

In May 1999, the Parliament selected Carlo Azeglio Ciampi as the President of the Republic. Ciampi, a former Prime Minister and Minister of the Treasury, and before the governor of the Bank of Italy, was elected on the first ballot with an easy margin over the required two-thirds votes.

A new government was formed by Democrats of the Left leader and former communist Massimo D'Alema, but in April 2000, following poor performance by his coalition in regional elections, D'Alema resigned.

The succeeding center-left government, including most of the same parties,was headed by Giuliano Amato (social-democratic), who previously served as Prime Minister in 1992-93, and had back then sworn never to return to active politics.

May 2001 national elections

The May 2001 elections, where both coalitions used decoy lists to undermine the proportional-compensation part of the electoral system, ushered a refashioned center-right coalition, "Freedom House" dominated by Berlusconi's party, Forza Italia into power. It included the Alleanza Nazionale, the Lega Nord, the Christian Democratic Center and the United Christian Democrats. The Olive Tree coalition now sits in the opposition.

This emerging bipolarity represents a major break from the fragmented, multi-party political landscape of the postwar era, although it appears to have reached a plateau, since efforts via referendums to further curtail the influence of small parties were defeated in 1999 and 2000. The constant debate among the components of both coalitions is however intense, and some observers noted in this infighting some similarities with the previous system.

The largest parties in the Chamber are (proportional system):

    * Forza Italia (29.2%), a conservative, populistic and liberal party;
    * Democrats of the Left (16.7%), a social-democratic party;
    * the Daisy (14,5%), a catholic and left-wing liberals coalition;
    * the National Alliance (12,5%), a conservative, post-fascist party;
    * the Whiteflower (3,3%), a centrist-catholics parties coalition.

Similar rankings generally apply in the Senate, in which Forza Italia and the Democrats of the Left remain the dominant parties.