# 2008 San Marino general election

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. The PSD tried to form a narrow-majority coalition with SU, Sammarineses for Freedom (SpL) and Centre Democrats (DdC), but two dissenting members of PSD left their party and formed Arengo and Freedom (AL), leaving the proposed coalition without a majority in Parliament.
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), the election was contested by two major coalitions: Pact for San Marino (centre-right) and Reforms and Freedom (centre-left).

## Electoral system

Voters had to be citizens of San Marino and at least 18 years old.

## Coalitions and parties

Due to the new electoral law, Sammarinese political parties are organized in two major coalitions:
* Pact for San Marino (Patto per San Marino)
* Reforms and Freedom (Riforme e Libertà)

### Pact for San Marino

| Party | Ideology | Electoral list |
| PDCS–EPS | Christian democracy | PDCS–EPS–AeL |
| Arengo and Freedom | Liberalism | PDCS–EPS–AeL |
| Popular Alliance | Big tent | Popular Alliance |
| New Socialist Party | Social liberalism | Freedom List |
| We Sammarineses | Liberal conservatism | Freedom List |
| Sammarinese People | Conservatism | Sammarinese Moderates |
| Sammarinese National Alliance | National conservatism | Sammarinese Moderates |

### Reforms and Freedom

| Party | Ideology | Electoral list |
| Party of Socialists and Democrats | Social democracy | Party of Socialists and Democrats |
| Sammarineses for Freedom | Social liberalism | Party of Socialists and Democrats |
| Communist Refoundation | Communism | United Left |
| Left Party – Zona Franca | Democratic socialism | United Left |
| Centre Democrats | Christian left | Democrats |

## Results

| Party or alliance | Party or alliance | Party or alliance | Party or alliance | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
| | Pact for San Marino | | PDCS–EPS–AeL | 6,692 | 31.91 | 22 | +1 |
| | Pact for San Marino | | Popular Alliance | 2,415 | 11.52 | 7 | 0 |
| | Pact for San Marino | | Freedom List | 1,317 | 6.28 | 4 | 0 |
| | Pact for San Marino | | Sammarinese Union of Moderates | 874 | 4.17 | 2 | 0 |
| | Pact for San Marino | | Coalition votes | 73 | 0.35 | – | – |
| | Pact for San Marino | Total | Total | 11,371 | 54.22 | 35 | +1 |
| | Reforms and Freedom | | Party of Socialists and Democrats | 6,702 | 31.96 | 18 | –3 |
| | Reforms and Freedom | | United Left | 1,797 | 8.57 | 5 | 0 |
| | Reforms and Freedom | | Centre Democrats | 1,037 | 4.94 | 2 | New |
| | Reforms and Freedom | | Coalition votes | 65 | 0.31 | – | – |
| | Reforms and Freedom | Total | Total | 9,601 | 45.78 | 25 | –1 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | 20,972 | 100.00 | 60 | 0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | Valid votes | Valid votes | 20,972 | 96.18 | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 834 | 3.82 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 21,806 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 31,845 | 68.48 | | |
| Source: Secretary of State for Internal Affairs ||||||||