| Country: | Kingdom of Italy |
| Type: | legislative |
| Previous Election: | 1876 Italian general election |
| Previous Year: | 1876 |
| Next Election: | 1882 Italian general election |
| Next Year: | 1882 |
| Seats For Election: | All 508 seats in the Chamber of Deputies255 seats needed for a majority |
| Election Date: | 16 May 1880 (first round) 23 May 1880 (second round) |
| Image1: | Agostino Depretis.jpg |
| Leader1: | Agostino Depretis |
| Party1: | Historical Left |
| Seats1: | 218 |
| Seat Change1: | 196 |
| Popular Vote1: | 146,096 |
| Percentage1: | 40.76% |
| Swing1: | 29.45pp |
| Leader2: | Marco Minghetti |
| Party2: | Historical Right |
| Seats2: | 171 |
| Seat Change2: | 77 |
| Popular Vote2: | 135,717 |
| Percentage2: | 37.86% |
| Swing2: | 9.66pp |
| Image3: | Giuseppe Zanardelli iii without oval frame.jpg |
| Leader3: | Giuseppe Zanardelli |
| Party3: | Dissident Left |
| Seats3: | 119 |
| Seat Change3: | New |
| Popular Vote3: | 70,479 |
| Percentage3: | 19.66% |
| Swing3: | New |
| Prime Minister | |
| Posttitle: | Subsequent Prime Minister |
| Before Election: | Benedetto Cairoli |
| After Election: | Benedetto Cairoli |
| Before Party: | Historical Left |
| After Party: | Historical Left |
General elections were held in Italy on 16 May 1880, with a second round of voting on 23 May.[1]
The Historical Left was led by the Prime Minister of Italy, Agostino Depretis, longtime Prime Minister of Italy.
The bloc of the Historical Right was led by Marco Minghetti, a conservative politician and former Prime Minister, from Bologna.
A third large parliamentary group was the Dissident Left, composed by former members of the Left, which were against the alliance with the Right. Also known as La Pentarchia (The Pentarchy), its main leader was Giuseppe Zanardelli, a jurisconsult from Brescia.
| Party | Ideology | Leader | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bgcolor= | Historical Left | Liberalism | Agostino Depretis | ||
| Historical Right | Conservatism | Marco Minghetti | |||
| bgcolor= | Dissident Left | Progressivism | Giuseppe Zanardelli | ||
The Historical Left group emerged as the largest in Parliament, although left-wing dissidents won 119 of the 508 seats, becoming the third parliamentary group.[2] Only 621,896 men of a total population of around 29 million were entitled to vote.[3] Benedetto Cairoli was confirmed Prime Minister by the king Umberto I.