RAFFAELE DE MUCCI

Sistema maggioritario e competizione elettorale nei piccoli comuni

N. 156

Summary - About two-thirds of Italian municipalities have a population not exceeding 5000 inhabitants. In spite of their small dimensions, the importance of these municipalities for Italian political system is remarkable. They constitute peculiar competition areas, where comparisons between the electoral behaviour of the different political subjects (parties and citizen) can be established, within the same political context but according to different rules: the majority system to elect the town council and the proportional system for the elections on larger basis (i.e. regional and national basis). The present study analyzes the effects of a majority system on political competition of these small contexts, examining the results of elections during the '80s in a nation-wide sample of municipalities under 5000 inhabitants.