Italy

The bicameral Italian Parliament has 400 deputies and 200 senators, who are elected every 5 years, both chambers in a mixed system similar to parallel voting. The Senate is also supplemented by a few senators appointed for life.

The minimum age for active suffrage (the right to vote) is 18 years, and for passive suffrage (the right to be elected) is 25 years in case of the Chamber of Deputies and 40 years in the case of the Senate. Voting is not compulsory, and voting is possible through diplomatic missions or by mail (postal voting), but online or proxy voting is not possible.

Chamber of Deputies

147 deputies (37% of the seats) are elected in single-member constituencies and 253 via regional closed-list proportional representation, 8 of the latter from overseas constituencies (overseas residents can only vote in their own list-based constituencies). The election is essentially carried out with a single (fused) vote, where the the voter cannot split their vote between an individual candidate and another party's list (unlike under parallel voting).

In the national list election, the legal threshold is 3%, and the simple quota (Hare quota) and largest remainder method are used to allocate seats between parties.

Senate

74 senators (37% of the seats) are elected in single-member constituencies, and 126 in regional closed-list PR, 4 of the latter from the constituencies of overseas residents (overseas residents can only vote in their own, list-based constituencies). The election is essentially carried out with a single (fused) vote, where the the voter cannot split their vote between an individual candidate and another party's list (unlike under parallel voting).

In the national list election, the legal threshold is 3%, and the simple quota (Hare quota) and largest remainder method are used to allocate seats between parties.

The president (head of state) is directly elected indirectly. More soon.

MEPs from Italy are elected every 5 years (at the same time as in the other EU member states). The country is split up into five (multi-seat) constituencies, in which a total 76 MEPs were elected in 2024. Due to "degressive proportionality", Italian voters have less representatives per capita than the EU average.

The main principle in the election of the Parliament (within the countries) is proportionality: by default, only a proportional system can be used, but beyond this, the member states decide for themselves what type. Italy, like most member states, uses an open-list proportional system. This means that voters can vote not only for a party list, but also for a candidate on the list, thus allowing them the chance to collectively change the predetermined order of the candidates. The allocation of seats between parties is done using the simple quota (Hare quota) and the largest remainder method. There is no legal electoral threshold, but in practice (due to the 17 seats) a minimum of about 5% is required to obtain a seat.

The minimum age for active suffrage (the right to vote) is 18 years, and for passive suffrage (standing for election) is 21 years. Voting is legally mandatory (but not enforced in practice), voting at embassies is possible (but only from other EU member states), however, postal voting, online voting or proxy voting are not possible.

This is the description of the electoral system of Italy as of 2026.04.22 on Electoral Knowledgebase. Sources and further information on this topic:

• 2024 European Parliament elections: National rules (European Parliament)

Feedback, criticism is welcome and appreciated.