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
  First party Second party Third party
 
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
LiberalsRepublicans – 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'AzUVMFUfSUPVSSK) 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

References

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