1979 European Parliament election in Italy

The 1979 European Parliament election in Italy was held on 10 June 1979.

1979 European Parliament election in Italy
Italy
10 June 1979

All 81 Italian seats to the European Parliament
Turnout85.7%
PartyLeader % Seats
DC Benigno Zaccagnini 36.5% 29
PCI Enrico Berlinguer 29.6% 24
PSI Bettino Craxi 11.0% 9
MSI Giorgio Almirante 5.5% 4
PSDI Pietro Longo 4.3% 4
PR Marco Pannella 3.7% 3
PLI Valerio Zanone 3.6% 3
PRI Giovanni Spadolini 2.6% 2
PdUP Luciana Castellina 1.2% 1
DP Mario Capanna 0.7% 1
SVP Silvius Magnago 0.6% 1
Major party in each Province.

A week before Italy had voted for its general election: the lack of matching between the two elections caused much controversy for wasting public money.

Electoral system

The pure party-list proportional representation was the traditional electoral system of the Italian Republic since its foundation in 1946, so it was naturally adopted to elect the Italian representatives to the European Parliament. 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

This election taking place just a week after the general election, it obviously gave a similar result. However, the minor importance of the European ballot caused a lower turnout, which particularly punished the two major parties, the Christian Democracy and the Italian Communist Party. The small Italian Liberal Party had a breath of fresh air from this vote, doubling its percentage compared to seven days before.

Summary of 10 June 1979 European Parliament election results in Italy
National party EP group Main candidate Votes  % Seats
Christian Democracy (DC) EPP Emilio Colombo 12,774,320 36.45 29
Italian Communist Party (PCI) COM Enrico Berlinguer 10,361,344 29.57 24
Italian Socialist Party (PSI) SOC Bettino Craxi 3,866,946 11.03 9
Italian Social Movement (MSI) NI Giorgio Almirante 1,909,055 5.45 4
Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI) SOC Antonio Cariglia 1,514,272 4.32 4
Radical Party (PR) TGI Marco Pannella 1,285,065 3.67 3
Italian Liberal Party (PLI) LD Enzo Bettiza 1,271,159 3.63 3
Italian Republican Party (PRI) LD Susanna Agnelli 896,139 2.56 2
Proletarian Unity Party (PdUP) TGI Luciana Castellina 406,656 1.16 1
Proletarian Democracy (DP) TGI Mario Capanna 252,342 0.72 1
South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP) EPP Joachim Dalsass 196,373 0.56 1
Federalism (Valdostan Union–Others) None 166,393 0.47 0
National Democracy (DN) None 142,537 0.41 0
Valid votes 35,042,601 96.94
Blank and invalid votes 1,105,579 3.06
Totals 36,148,180 100.00 81
Electorate (eligible voters) and voter turnout 42,203,405 85.65
Source: Italian Ministry of the Interior
Popular vote
DC
36.45%
PCI
29.57%
PSI
11.03%
MSI
5.45%
PSDI
4.32%
PR
3.67%
PLI
3.63%
PRI
2.56%
PdUP
1.16%
Others
2.16%
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