1979 Italian Senate election in Lombardy

Lombardy elected its eighth delegation to the Italian Senate on June 3, 1979. This election was a part of national Italian general election of 1979 even if, according to the Italian Constitution, every senatorial challenge in each Region is a single and independent race.

1979 Italian Senate election in Lombardy

June 3, 1979

All 48 Lombard seats to the Italian Senate
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Leader Benigno Zaccagnini Enrico Berlinguer Bettino Craxi
Party DC PCI PSI
Last election 41.8%, 21 seats 30.7%, 16 seats 11.8%, 6 seats
Seats won 21 15 6
Seat change = Decrease1 =
Popular vote 2,117,789 1,530,781 620,900
Percentage 40.7% 29.4% 11.9%
Swing Decrease1.1% Decrease1.3% Increase0.1%

Old local plurality before election

DC

New local plurality

DC

The election was won by the centrist Christian Democracy, as it happened at national level. Seven Lombard provinces gave a majority or at least a plurality to the winning party, while the agricultural Province of Pavia and Province of Mantua preferred the Italian Communist Party.

Background

For the first time the Italian Communist Party lost votes, after a period of terroristic attacks by the Red Brigades. Even the far-right Italian Social Movement was weakened. Between other minor parties, the Radical Party obtained its first seat.

Electoral system

The electoral system for the Senate was a strange hybrid which established a form of proportional representation into FPTP-like constituencies. A candidate needed a landslide victory of more than 65% of votes to obtain a direct mandate. All constituencies where this result was not reached entered into an at-large calculation based upon the D'Hondt method to distribute the seats between the parties, and candidates with the best percentages of suffrages inside their party list were elected.

Results

Party votes votes (%) seats swing
Christian Democracy 2,117,789 40.7 21 =
Italian Communist Party 1,530,781 29.4 15 Decrease1
Italian Socialist Party 620,900 11.9 6 =
Italian Democratic Socialist Party 217,704 4.2 2 Increase1
Italian Social Movement 186,412 3.6 1 Decrease1
Italian Republican Party 162,090 3.1 1 =
Italian Liberal Party 156,745 3.0 1 =
Radical Party 154,257 3.0 1 Increase1
Others 63,291 1.2 - =
Total parties 5,209,969 100.0 48 =

Sources: Italian Ministry of the Interior

Constituencies

Constituency Elected Party Votes % Others
1 Bergamo Angelo Castelli Christian Democracy 54.8%
2 Clusone Enzo Berlanda Christian Democracy 62.1%
3 Treviglio Vincenzo Bombardieri Christian Democracy 55.7%
4 Brescia Mino Martinazzoli
Gino Torri
Christian Democracy
Italian Communist Party
44.9%
28.3%
5 Breno Giacomo Mazzoli Christian Democracy 54.2%
6 Chiari Mario Pedini Christian Democracy 56.6%
7 Salò Fabiano De Zan
Egidio Ariosto
Christian Democracy
Italian Democratic Socialist Party
48.0%
6.5%
8 Como Luciano Forni
Gianfranco Conti Persini
Christian Democracy
Italian Democratic Socialist Party
42.0%
8.9%
9 Lecco Tommaso Morlino Christian Democracy 49.6%
10 Cantù Luigi Granelli Christian Democracy 47.5%
11 Cremona Vincenzo Vernaschi
Renzo Antoniazzi
Christian Democracy
Italian Communist Party
39.6%
36.6%
12 Crema Ferdinando Truzzi
Maurizio Noci
Christian Democracy
Italian Socialist Party
48.4%
13.2%
13 Mantua Carlo Grazioli
Giuseppe Chiarante
Gino Scevarolli
Christian Democracy
Italian Communist Party
Italian Socialist Party
36.7%
35.0%
13.4%
14 Ostiglia Agostino Zavattini
Enrico Novellini
Italian Communist Party
Italian Socialist Party
42.7%
14.9%
15 Milan 1 Libero Mazza
Giovanni Malagodi
Christian Democracy
Italian Liberal Party
37.2%
9.7%
16 Milan 2 Giorgio Pisanò
Gianfranco Spadaccia
Italian Social Movement
Radical Party
7.3%
6.0%
17 Milan 3 None elected
18 Milan 4 Giovanni Spadolini Italian Republican Party 7.9%
19 Milan 5 Mario Venanzi Italian Communist Party 32.1%
20 Milan 6 Marina Rossanda
Rino Formica
Italian Communist Party
Italian Socialist Party
33.7%
13.8%
21 Abbiategrasso Ada Valeria Ruhl Italian Communist Party 35.7% Ambrogio Colombo (DC) 36.3%
22 Rho Giorgio Milani Italian Communist Party 37.7% Vincenzo La Russa (DC) 34.6%
23 Monza Vittorino Colombo
Libero Riccardelli
Christian Democracy
Italian Communist Party (Gsi)
39.9%
30.9%
24 Vimercate Giovanni Marcora
Angelo Romanò
Christian Democracy
Italian Communist Party (Gsi)
42.2%
31.8%
25 Lodi Camillo Ripamonti
Rodolfo Bollini
Christian Democracy
Italian Communist Party
38.9%
38.1%
26 Pavia Armelino Milani Italian Communist Party 37.7% Angelo Cordara (DC) 34.1%
27 Voghera Carlo Lavezzari
Giovanni Bellinzona
Christian Democracy
Italian Communist Party
37.4%
34.0%
28 Vigevano Armando Cossutta Italian Communist Party 43.2%
29 Sondrio Eugenio Tarabini
Libero Della Briotta
Christian Democracy
Italian Socialist Party
51.5%
17.3%
30 Varese Aristide Marchetti
Modesto Merzario
Attilio Spozio
Christian Democracy
Italian Communist Party
Italian Socialist Party
39.0%
28.1%
13.7%
31 Busto Arsizio Gian Pietro Rossi Christian Democracy 42.4%
  • No senator obtained a direct mandate. Please remember that the electoral system was, in the other cases, a form of proportional representation and not a FPTP race: so candidates winning with a simple plurality could have (and usually had) a candidate (usually a Christian democrat) with more votes in their constituency.

Substitutions

Notes

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