The ratio of local electors to population is in Piedmont 79%, but in Sicily less than.
In consequence of this change the number of local electors increased by more than onethird between 1887-1889; it decreased, however, as a result of an extraordinary revision of the registers in 1894.
No concession could be denied to deputies, or groups of deputiec, whose support was indispensable to the life of the cabinet, nor, under such conditions, was it possible to place any effective check upon administrative abuses in which politicians or their electors were interested.
The legislative power is vested in a congress of two chambers - the senate, composed of 30 members (two from each province and two from the capital), elected by the provincial legislatures and by a special body of electors in the capital for a term of nine years; and the chamber of deputies, of 120 members (1906), elected for four years by direct vote of the people, one deputy for every 33,000 inhabitants.
To secure election a candidate must at the first voting poll an absolute majority and a number of votes equal to one-fourth of the number of electors.
