| Country: | San Marino |
| Flag Year: | 1862 |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Previous Election: | 2006 |
| Next Election: | 2012 |
| Election Date: | 9 November 2008 |
| Seats For Election: | All 60 seats in the Grand and General Council |
| Majority Seats: | 31 |
| Turnout: | 68.48% (3.36pp) |
| Leader1: | Antonella Mularoni |
| Party1: | Pact for San Marino |
| Last Election1: | 34 |
| Seats1: | 35 |
| Percentage1: | 54.22 |
| Leader2: | Fiorenzo Stolfi |
| Party2: | Reforms and Freedom |
| Last Election2: | 26 |
| Seats2: | 25 |
| Percentage2: | 45.78 |
| Map: | 2008 Sammarinese general election.svg |
| Secretary for Foreigns | |
| Posttitle: | New Secretary for Foreign Affairs |
| Before Election: | Fiorenzo Stolfi |
| Before Party: | Party of Socialists and Democrats |
| Before Image: | Rice San Marino 0420 600.jpg |
| After Election: | Antonella Mularoni |
| After Image: | Antonella Mularoni.jpg |
| After Party: | Pact for San Marino |
Snap general elections were held in San Marino on 9 November 2008. They were called after the collapse of the centre-left government which had won the previous 2006 elections.
In June 2008, due to disagreements within the coalition partners, the Party of Socialists and Democrats (PSD), Popular Alliance (AP) and United Left (SU), AP left the coalition and the cabinet fell down.[1] The PSD tried to form a narrow-majority coalition with SU, Sammarineses for Freedom (SpL) and Centre Democrats (DdC),[2] but two dissenting members of PSD left their party and formed Arengo and Freedom (AL), leaving the proposed coalition without a majority in Parliament.[3] [4]
Due to the new electoral law passed earlier in 2008 which introduced a number of changes (an electoral threshold of 3.5% and a majority premium for the winning coalition, on the example of the electoral system for the Italian cities[5]), the election was contested by two major coalitions: Pact for San Marino (centre-right) and Reforms and Freedom (centre-left).
Voters had to be citizens of San Marino and at least 18 years old.
Due to the new electoral law, Sammarinese political parties are organized in two major coalitions:
| Party | Ideology | Electoral list | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christian democracy | PDCS–EPS–AeL | ||
| Liberalism | |||
| Big tent | Popular Alliance | ||
| Social liberalism | Freedom List | ||
| Liberal conservatism | |||
| Conservatism | Sammarinese Moderates | ||
| National conservatism | |||