The geography of party replacement in Italy, 1987–1996

With the disappearance of the two largest political parties and the emergence of several new ones over the last decade, a new electoral map of Italy has emerged. We explore how these ongoing changes to party politics in Italy were manifest spatially between 1987 and 1996. In particular, the geographical aspects of party replacement are examined in central and northern Italy. First, the parties that have succeeded the Italian Communist Party (PCI) are examined in Tuscany, where the Italian left has historically enjoyed high levels of electoral support. Second, we look at how the regionalist Northern League has replaced the Christian Democratic Party (DC) in the Veneto. Exploratory spatial data analyses (ESDA), and in particular, local indicators of spatial autocorrelation (LISA), indicate that the processes and patterns of replacement are more complex than the simple substitution of one party with another in both of these regions, and illustrate the need to frame geographically electoral change in Italy.