1989 European Parliament election in Italy

The 1989 European Parliament election in Italy was held on 18 June 1989.

1989 European Parliament election in Italy
Italy
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All 81 Italian seats to the European Parliament
Turnout81.07% (Decrease 1.4 pp)
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/–
DC Arnaldo Forlani 32.9% 26 0
PCI Achille Occhetto 27.6% 22 −5
PSI Bettino Craxi 14.8% 12 +3
MSI Gianfranco Fini 5.5% 4 −1
PLIPRI–Fed. R. Altissimo, G. La Malfa & M. Pannella 4.4% 4 −1
Green List Gianni F. Mattioli 3.8% 3 New
PSDI Antonio Cariglia 2.7% 2 −1
Rainbow Greens Mario Capanna 2.4% 2 New
Lega Lombarda Umberto Bossi 1.8% 2 +2
DP Giovanni Russo Spena 1.3% 1 0
Antiprohibitionists Marco Taradash 1.2% 1 −2
PSd'Az – others Several 0.6% 1 0
SVP Silvius Magnago 0.5% 1 0
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Major party in each Province.

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

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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

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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) EUL 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  
Green List (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  
Antiprohibitionist List (LA) 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

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References

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