The impact of the 2013 general election on the Italian political system: The end of bipolarism?

This article offers an in-depth analysis of the way in which the results of the 2013 national elections have changed the Italian political system, with a particular emphasis on the crisis and possible end of bipolarism, and its consequences. Following a long, first phase of the Italian Republic in which bipolarism was neither practiced nor possible, the second phase (1994–2013) exhibited a muscular competition between two slightly changing political coalitions. It was also characterized by full, though often confused, rotation in government after each and every election. In the wake of the inconclusive February 2013 elections, the significant electoral success of the Movimento 5 Stelle (M5S, Five-Star Movement), and the formation of two governments occupying the center of the political alignment, two oppositions have made their appearance. The declining Forza Italia (FI) seems unable to launch any challenge to the incumbent government, while the M5S has so far positioned itself as an anti-system actor. Bipolarism seems no longer feasible unless a new electoral law restructures the party system and revives a decent European-style bipolar competition.