1989 European Parliament election

1989 European Parliament election

←  1984 15–18 June 1989 1994  →
←  outgoing members Members elected  →
All 518 seats to the European Parliament 260 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	58.5% 2.5 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Jean-Pierre Cot Egon Klepsch Valéry Giscard d’Estaing Party SOC EPP ELDR Leader's seat France Germany France Last election 130 110 31 Seats won 180* 121* 49* Seat change 50 11 18
Post-election composition of each member state's delegation * The number of seats was increased from 434 to 518 – so this is a nominal figure
President of the European Parliament before election Henry Plumb ED President of the European Parliament after election Enrique Barón Crespo PES

The 1989 European Parliament election was a held on June Wednesday 15 to Sunday 18 across the 12 European Union member state in June 1989. ^[1] It was the third European Parliament election but the first time that Spain and Portugal voted at the same time as the other members they joined in 1986. Overall turnout dropped to 59%.

Electoral system

There was no single voting system for all member states but each of them adopted its own method, established by national law.

The United Kingdom used a one-round (first-past-the-post) system of 78 constituencies in England, Wales and Scotland, while in Northern Ireland 3 proportional seats were allocated. Belgium, Ireland and Italy used a proportional system with subdivision of the territory into constituencies. Denmark, France, West Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain used a single national proportional system, although in the case of West Germany the three seats for the West Berlin area were not directly elected but were chosen by the Berlin House of Representatives, given the particular status of the city.

Seat changes

These were the first elections Portugal and Spain took part in with the other states. Spain was allocated 60 seats and Portugal was allocated 24; the number of seats for the other states remained the same, raising the total number of seats from 434 to 518.

National distribution of seats
State	Seats		State	Seats
West Germany	81		Belgium	24
United Kingdom	81		Portugal	24
France	81		Greece	24
Italy	81		Denmark	16
Spain	60		Ireland	15
Netherlands	25		Luxembourg	6

Results

European Parliament election, 1989 - Final results at 25 July 1989
Group		Description	Chaired by	MEPs
	SOC	Social Democrats	Jean-Pierre Cot	180
	EPP	Christian Democrats	Egon Klepsch	121
	LDR	Liberals and Liberal Democrats	Valéry Giscard d'Estaing	49
	EUL	Communists and the Far Left	Luigi Alberto Colajanni	42
	LU		René-Emile Piquet
	ED	Conservatives	Christopher Prout	34
	G	Greens	Maria Amélia Santos	30
	EDA	National Conservatives	Christian de La Malène	20
	DR	Far-Right Nationalists	Jean-Marie Le Pen	17
	RBW	Regionalists	Jaak Vandemeulebroucke	13
	NI	Independents	none	12	Total: 518	Sources:

The Socialists held their third consecutive victory, rising to 180 seats (166 pre-election), with the People's Party managing to win only 8 extra seats. However, the European Democrats had a massive loss of 32 of the 66 seats, knocking them from third to sixth largest party. The liberals, who had already risen one place with the byelections in Spain and Portugal earlier, gained an extra seat, holding their new-found third place with both the Rainbow and Communist groups splitting post-election.

Seats summary SOC   34.75% EPP   23.36% LDR   9.46% EUL–LU   8.11% ED   6.56% G   5.79% EDA   3.86% DR   3.28% RBW   2.51% NI   2.32%

Results by country

Group Nation	SOC	EPP	LDR	ED	EDA	G	EUL	DR	LU	RBW	NI	Total
Belgium	5 PS 3 SP	5 CVP 2 PSC	2 PVV 2 PRL			2 Ecolo 1 Agalev		1 VB		1 VU		24
Denmark	4 A	2 D	3 V	2 C			1 SF			4 N		16
France	22 PS	4 CDS 1 CNI 1 Ind.	12 UDF 1 UDF diss.		12 RPR 1 CNI	8 Verts		10 FN	7 PCF	1 UPC	1 Ind.	81
Greece	9 PASOK	10 ND			1 DIANA		4 Synaspismos					24
Ireland	1 LAB	4 FG	1 PDs 1 Ind.		6 FF				1 WPI	1 Ind.		15
Italy	12 PSI 2 PSDI	26 DC 1 SVP	3 PRI			3 LV 2 VA 1 DP 1 LA	22 PCI			2 LL 1 PSd'Az	4 MSI 1 Ind.	81
Luxembourg	2 LSAP	3 CSV	1 DP									6
Netherlands	8 PvdA	10 CDA	3 VVD	1 D66						2 Regenboog	1 SGP	25
Portugal	8 PS	3 CDS–PP	9 PSD			1 CDU (PEV)			3 CDU (PCP)			24
Spain	27 PSOE	15 PP 1 CiU (UDC)	5 CDS 1 CiU (CDC)			1 IP	4 IU			1 PA 1 PEP	2 Ruiz-Mateos 1 CN 1 HB	60
United Kingdom	45 LAB 1 SDLP	1 UUP		32 CON						1 SNP	1 DUP	81
West Germany	31 SPD	25 CDU 7 CSU	4 FDP			7 Grünen		6 REP				81
Total	180	121	49	34	20	28	31	17	14	13	12	518

Statistics

European Parliament election, 1989 - Statistics
Area	Dates	Seats	Electorate	Turnout	Previous	Next	Election methods	Sources
European Community (EC-12)	15-18 June 1989	518	244,951,379	58.5%	1984	1994	All PR, except UK (not NI) which used FPTP	Archived 25 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine Archived 4 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine

European Parliament election, 1989 - Timeline
Second Parliament			1989 Election and Regrouping		Third Parliament
Groups		Pre-elections Last session	Change	Results July 25	New Groups		First session July 25
	SOC	166	+14	180		SOC	180
	EPP	112	+9	121		EPP	121
	LDR	46	+3	49		LDR	49
	RBW	20	+23	13		RBW	13
				30		G	30
	COM	48	-6	28		EUL	28
				14		LU	14
	ED	66	-32	34		ED	34
	EDA	30	-10	20		EDA	20
	ER	16	+1	17		DR	17
	NI	14	-2	12		NI	12
Total		518	0	518	Total		518
Sources Archived 11 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine

European Parliament election, 1989 - Delegation at 25 July 1989
Group		Description	Details	%	MEPs
	SOC	Social Democrats	West Germany 31, Belgium 8, Denmark 4, France 22, Ireland 1, Italy 14, Luxembourg 2, Netherlands 8, UK 46, Greece 9, Spain 27, Portugal 8	35%	180
	EPP	Christian Democrats	West Germany 32, Belgium 7, Denmark 2, France 6, Ireland 4, Italy 27, Luxembourg 3, Netherlands 10, UK 1, Greece 10, Spain 16, Portugal 3	23%	121
	LDR	Liberals and Liberal Democrats	West Germany 4, Belgium 4, Denmark 3, France 13, Ireland 2, Italy 3, Luxembourg 1, Netherlands 4, Spain 6, Portugal 9	9%	49
	EUL & LU	Communists and the Far Left	Denmark 1, France 7, Ireland 1, Italy 22, Greece 4, Spain 4, Portugal 3	8%	42 (28+14)
	ED	Conservatives	Denmark 2, UK 32	7%	34
	G	Greens	West Germany 8, Belgium 3, France 8, Italy 7, Netherlands 2, Spain 1, Portugal 1	6%	30
	EDA	National Conservatives	France 13, Ireland 6, Greece 1	4%	20
	DR	Far-Right Nationalists	West Germany 6, Belgium 1, France 10	3%	17
	RBW	Regionalists	Belgium 1, Denmark 4, France 1, Ireland 1, Italy 3, UK 1, Spain 2	3%	13
	NI	Independents	France 1, Italy 5, Netherlands 1, UK 1, Spain 4	2%	12
Sources: Archived 11 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine				100%	518

Further reading

• Special issue of Electoral Studies on the elections.

References

1. Curtice, John (1 December 1989). "The 1989 European election: Protest or green tide?" . Electoral Studies. 8 (3): 217–230. doi:10.1016/0261-3794(89)90002-4. ISSN   0261-3794.

External links

• The election of the Members of the European Parliament European Navigator
• Full Election Details Elections Online (In French)