What a coalition is
Why Italian parties stand together, what it commits them to, and why it pays.
What is an electoral coalition?
A formal agreement between lists that appear linked on the same ballot and back the same candidates in single-member districts.
It must be declared when symbols are filed: not an informal understanding announced during the campaign, but a commitment lodged with the Interior Ministry.
Source: Law 165/2017
Why does allying pay?
Because a third of seats are decided in single-member districts, where whoever gets one vote more than anyone else wins the seat.
In those districts a coalition runs a single candidate and pools the votes of every list backing them. In 2022 the centre-right took about 44% of the vote and won nearly every single-member district, because its opponents stood separately.
Is a coalition binding after the election?
No. Nothing obliges parties allied at an election to stay together in parliament.
Once elected, members join parliamentary groups, which can form and dissolve freely. A coalition matters for seat allocation and thresholds, not for the life of the legislature.
What threshold must a coalition clear?
A coalition needs at least 10% of valid votes nationally.
Within it, individual lists share in the seats if they clear 3%. Lists below 3% but above 1% win no seats of their own, yet their votes still count towards the coalition — which is why coalitions have every reason to include very small parties.
Source: Law 165/2017