ABSTRACT
The first signs of change in the parties and party system appeared at least twenty years ago, with the emergence of a diffuse dissatisfaction with the political system and institutions. The debate about how to change was started in the 1970s, long before the change of party name and form in 1991 which produced the Partito Democratico della Sinistra (PDS). The run-up to the 1994 elections it appeared that the PDS would capture the largest individual vote and, for the first time since 1948, organize the government of Italy. Although the electoral system for the Senate is based upon the same principle as that for the Chamber, namely that three quarters of the Senators were to be elected by plurality in single-member constituencies and one quarter chosen by proportional representation, the electoral law differs in significant detail. In the Chamber elections there is a scorporo, but it's calculated differently, by summing the votes won by all the successful collegio candidates.
