1990 Italian presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Italy on 3 July 1990 to elect the 5th State President of Italy. They marked the establishment of the Third Republic, and were the first free multi-party elections held since the 1970 coup, and were the first direct elections since 1969. The two main opponents were incumbent State President Gianfranco Fini and city councillor Mario Segni, secretary of the Christian Democracy, originally a centrist party that attempted to present itsself as a center-left party with no links to far-left organizations, which were banned since 1970, along with far-right parties.

Background
President Pino Tatarella contested and won the 1980 Italian presidential election after the resignation of Giorgio Almirante, who died in 1988. During Tatarella presidency, reforms that would have brought Italy to multi-party democracy continued at a rapid pace, and at the same time persecution of left wing elements also continued; in 1946, the country was at risk of being under the sphere of the Soviet Union due to more than half of the population having communist views. After Tatarella retired in 1985, organized crime, known as mafia, was eradicated from society with the arrest of Matteo Messina Denaro. Far-left terrorist organizations were also disbanded, with key commanders arrested and executed, as well as far-right ones. The National Party presented itsself as an authoritarian but at the same time moderate party, that wanted to resolve the mistakes of the 1970 coup and to remove extremism. When Fini was elected to the presidency in 1985, reforms culminated in the National Democracy Decree which scheduled democratic multi-party elections for 1990, where Fini would stand as a candidate. The economic situation was also very strong; Italy competed with the United Kingdom, Japan and the United States in all sectors.

Election
Gianfranco Fini presented his candidacy on 8 January 1990, and announced a platform centered on the respect of law and order, continued persecution of extremism, reduction of crime and further economic liberalization and also an education reform to compete with Finland, that had a rising score in all academical fields. On the opposition, Mario Segni ran for the abolition of several decrees labeled by him as "authoritarian" and against all liberties, and also focused on release of political prisoners, a topic which was debated in the 1st Presidential Debate, where Fini declared that prisoners were released on August 1986 under his order. Fini won the election in a landslide, mainly winning from the North and South. Segni conceded victory shortly after and Fini was sworn in on July 4, following the traditional US swearing-in model.