1989 European Parliament election in Italy

The third elections for the European Parliament in Italy were held on 18 June 1989.

European Parliament election in Italy, 1989

18 June 1989
All 81 Italian seats to the European Parliament
Leader Arnaldo Forlani Achille Occhetto Bettino Craxi Party Christian Democracy Communist Party Socialist Party Alliance EPP COM SOC Leader since 1989 1988 1976 Leader's seat Central Italy Northeast Italy Northwest Italy Last election 26 seats, 33.0% 27 seats, 33.3% 9 seats, 11.2% Seats won 26 22 12 Seat change 0 5 3 Popular vote 11,451,053 9,598,369 5,151,929 Percentage 32.9% 27.6% 14.8% Swing 0.1% 5.7% 3.6%
European election results map. Light Blue denotes provinces with a Christian Democratic plurality, Red denotes those with a Communist plurality, Brown and Gray and denotes those with an Autonomist plurality.

The election was paired with a non-binding referendum about the devolution of powers to the European Economic Community, which passed with overwhelming support from voters.

Electoral system

The pure party-list proportional representation was the traditional electoral system of the Italian Republic since its foundation in 1946, so it had been adopted to elect the Italian representatives to the European Parliament too. Two levels were used: a national level to divide seats between parties, and a constituency level to distribute them between candidates. Italian regions were united in 5 constituencies, each electing a group of deputies. At national level, seats were divided between party lists using the largest remainder method with Hare quota. All seats gained by each party were automatically distributed to their local open lists and their most voted candidates.

Results

For more than 35 years, Italian Communists had thought that their final victory was no more than a matter of time. However, the deindustrialization of Italy during the '80s showed that the time had expired. The decline of the traditional opponents of the Christian Democracy opened the door to new forms of protests: the Green Lists and, in Northern Italy, the Lombard League.

The government of Ciriaco De Mita did not survive to this vote: declining Italian Republican Party fired its leader Giovanni Spadolini, and the new secretary Giorgio La Malfa retired his support to the old PM. The Christian Democracy so chose a very expert new PM: Giulio Andreotti.

← Summary of the 18 June 1989 European Parliament election results in Italy →

National party		EP group	Main candidate	Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Christian Democracy (DC)	EPP	Giovanni Goria	11,451,053	32.90	0.06	26	0
	Italian Communist Party (PCI)	COM	Achille Occhetto	9,598,369	27.58	5.75	22	5
	Italian Socialist Party (PSI)	SOC	Bettino Craxi	5,151,929	14.80	3.59	12	3
	Italian Social Movement (MSI)	NI	Gianfranco Fini	1,918,650	5.51	0.96	4	1
	Liberals – Republicans – Federalists (PLI–PRI–FED)	LDR / NI	Jas Gawronski	1,532,388	4.40	1.69	4	1
	Europe Greens – Green List (VE–LV)	Green	Gianfranco Amendola	1,317,119	3.78	New	3	New
	Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI)	SOC	Antonio Cariglia	945,383	2.72	0.77	2	1
	Rainbow Greens (VA)	Green	Edo Ronchi	830,980	2.39	New	2	New
	Lombard League – Northern Alliance (LL-AN)	RBW	Umberto Bossi	636,242	1.83	1.36	2	2
	Proletarian Democracy (DP)	Green	Eugenio Melandri	449,639	1.29	0.15	1	0
	Antiprohibitionists on Drugs	Green	Marco Taradash	430,150	1.24	2.43	1	2
	Federalism (PSd'Az–UV–MF–UfS–UPV–SSK)	RBW	Mario Melis	207,739	0.60	0.05	1	0
	South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)	EPP	Joachim Dalsass	172,383	0.50	0.06	1	0
	Pensioners' Party (PP)	None		162,293	0.47	New	0	New
Valid votes				34.804.317	92.63
Blank and invalid votes				2,768,442	7.37
Totals				37,572,759	100.00	—	81	0
Electorate (eligible voters) and voter turnout				46,346,961	81.07	1.40
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Popular vote DC   32.90% PCI   27.58% PSI   14.80% MSI   5.51% PLI-PRI   4.40% Greens   2.79% PSDI   2.72% Rainbow Greens   2.39% Others   5.93%

See also

• European Parliament

References