THE 1994 ELECTIONS

The 1994 elections were the final outcome of the crisis of the mass parties of the twentieth century. They led to the shaping of a bipolar first-past-the-post political system. The party system became completely different from the previous one. The main novelty was Berlusconi"s victorious "entering the fray" that deeply innovated the models of Italian politics. He presented himself as a charismatic leader having direct contact with the voters thanks to a skillful use of television. The party he founded, Forza Italia, identifies with his person and would not exist without him. It is a personal party. This marked a qualitative leap in the process of personalization of the leadership that was going to characterize the Italian political system hence onwards. Berlusconi won also because he was the first to understand that - with the new single-poll firstpast- the-post electoral system - the clash would be between right and left, with no possibility for centrist parties, and that it would be necessary to establish electoral coalitions. He thus formed an alliance with the Northern League and the MSI with no regard for the policy cohesiveness of the alliance. Italian bipolarism would consequently acquire the negative characteristic of fragile and heterogeneous coalitions, the electoral system being not apt to limit party fragmentation. The political system would become highly conflictual due the failure of the two political fronts to legitimise one another.