The election was won by the centre-right coalition House of Freedoms led by Silvio Berlusconi, defeating Francesco Rutelli, former mayor of Rome, and leader of the centre-left coalition The Olive Tree, and rising back to power after Berlusconi's first victory in the 1994 Italian general election.

For this election Berlusconi ran again for Prime Minister as leader of the centre-right House of Freedoms (Italian: La Casa delle Libertà), which included the Forza Italia, National Alliance, Northern League, Christian Democratic Centre, United Christian Democrats and other minor parties.

The candidate for Prime Minister of the centre-left Olive Tree (Italian: L'Ulivo) was Francesco Rutelli, former mayor of Rome.

On the television interviews programme Porta a Porta, during the last days of the electoral campaign, Berlusconi created a powerful impression on the public by undertaking to sign a so-called Contratto con gli Italiani (English: Contract with the Italians), an idea copied outright by his advisor Luigi Crespi from the Newt Gingrich's Contract with America introduced six weeks before the 1994 US Congressional election,[1] which was widely considered to be a creative masterstroke in his 2001 campaign bid for prime ministership.

Fourthly, he promised to raise the minimum monthly pension rate to 516 euros; and fifthly, he would suppress the crime wave by introducing police officers to patrol all local zones and areas in Italy's major cities.