query: office_contested italian general election
supports: Silvio Berlusconi (born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments. A snap national general election was held in Italy on March 27 , 1994 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate . Silvio Berlusconi 's centre - right alliance won a large majority in the Chamber , but just missed winning a majority in the Senate . The Italian People 's Party , the renamed Christian Democrats , which had dominated Italian politics for almost half a century , was decimated . It took only 29 seats versus 206 for the DC two years earlier - easily the worst defeat a sitting government in Italy has ever suffered , and one of the worst ever suffered by a Western European governing party . Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino and Vatican City. Italy covers an area of and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate; due to its shape, it is often referred to in Italy as "lo Stivale" (the Boot). With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state. The euro (sign: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of the eurozone, which consists of 19 of the member states of the European Union: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. The currency is also officially used by the institutions of the European Union and four other European countries, as well as unilaterally by two others, and is consequently used daily by some 337 million Europeans . Outside of Europe, a number of overseas territories of EU members also use the euro as their currency. Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: "RS"), is a nation state in southern Central Europe, located at the crossroads of main European cultural and trade routes. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and the Adriatic Sea to the southwest. It covers and has a population of 2.06 million. It is a parliamentary republic and a member of the United Nations, European Union, and NATO. The capital and largest city is Ljubljana. A parliamentary republic is a republic that operates under a parliamentary system of government where the executive branch (the government) derives its legitimacy from and is accountable to the legislature (the parliament). There are a number of variations of parliamentary republics. Most have a clear differentiation between the head of government and the head of state, with the head of government holding real power, much like constitutional monarchies. Some have combined the roles of head of state and head of government, much like presidential systems, but with a dependency upon parliamentary power. The President of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic (Italian: "Presidente del Consiglio dei ministri della Repubblica Italiana"), commonly referred to in Italy as Presidente del Consiglio and known in English as the Prime Minister of Italy, is the head of government of the Italian Republic. The office of Prime Minister is established by Articles 92 through to 96 of the Constitution of Italy. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President of the Republic after each general election and must have the confidence of the Parliament of Italy to stay in office.
candidates: head of state member president prime minister of italy
answer: prime minister of italy