1984 European Parliament election in Italy

Last updated

1984 European Parliament election in Italy
Flag of Italy.svg
←  1979 17 June 1984 1989  →
All 81 Italian seats to the European Parliament
Turnout82.47% (Decrease2.svg 2.9 pp)
PartyLeaderVote %Seats+/–
PCI Alessandro Natta 33.3%27+3
DC Ciriaco De Mita 33.0%26−3
PSI Bettino Craxi 11.2%90
MSI Giorgio Almirante 6.5%5+1
PLI–PRI V. Zanone & G. Spadolini 6.1%50
PSDI Pietro Longo 3.5%3−1
PR Marco Pannella 3.4%30
DP Mario Capanna 1.4%10
SVP Silvius Magnago 0.6%10
PSd'Az – othersCollective leadership0.6%1+1
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
European Election 1984 Italy.png
Major party in each Province.

The 1984 European Parliament election in Italy was held on 17 June 1984. The election took place just six days after the death of Italian Communist Party (PCI) leader Enrico Berlinguer; this fact greatly influenced the vote, producing a historic result. [1] This election was the only time in Italian history that the Communists placed first in a national election, overcoming the dominance of Christian Democracy.

Contents

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

The public emotion caused by Berlinguer's tragic death resulted in an extraordinary strength for the PCI; [1] for the first time in Western Europe since the 1956 French legislative election and the first time ever in Italian history, a Communist party received a plurality by a democratic vote.

In opposition, this result reinforced the moderate government ruling the country. The Italian Socialist Party of Prime Minister Bettino Craxi had maintained its vote, and its major ally, the defeated Christian Democracy, did not want to take any chances of a political crisis that could lead to dangerous general election.

PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Italian Communist Party 11,714,42833.33+3.7627+3
Christian Democracy 11,583,76732.96-3.4926-3
Italian Socialist Party 3,940,44511.21+0.1890
Italian Social Movement 2,274,5566.47+1.025+1
Italian Liberal Party – Italian Republican Party 2,140,5016.09+2.4650
Italian Democratic Socialist Party 1,225,4623.49-0.833-1
Radical Party 1,199,8763.41-0.2630
Proletarian Democracy 506,7531.44+0.7210
South Tyrolean People's Party 198,2200.56010
Federalism (UV–PSd'Az–Others)193,4300.55+0.081+1
Liga Veneta 164,1150.47New0New
Total35,141,553100.00–81–
Valid votes35,141,55394.80
Invalid votes1,215,9643.28
Blank votes712,1291.92
Total votes37,069,646100.00
Registered voters/turnout44,948,25382.47
Source: Italian Ministry of the Interior

See also

  1. 1 2 Lomellini, Valentine (2015). "The PCI and the European Integration from Eurocommunism to Berlinguer's Death". In Bonreschi, Lucia; Orsina, Giovanni; Varsori, Antonio (eds.). European Political Cultures and Parties and the European Integration Process, 1945–1992. Bern: Peter Lang. ISBN   978-2-87574-279-7.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.