1989 European Parliament election

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1989 European Parliament election
Flag of Europe.svg
  1984 15–18 June 1989 1994  

All 518 seats to the European Parliament
260 seats needed for a majority
Turnout58.5% Decrease2.svg 2.5 pp
 First partySecond partyThird party
  Jean-Pierre Cot 1981 (cropped).png Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F061785-0005, Hamburg, CDU-Bundesparteitag, Egon Klepsch (cropped).jpg Valery Giscard d'Estaing 1978(3).jpg
Leader Jean-Pierre Cot Egon Klepsch Valéry Giscard d’Estaing
Party SOC EPP ELDR
Leader's seat France Germany France
Last election13011031
Seats won180*121*49*
Seat changeIncrease2.svg50Increase2.svg11Increase2.svg18

1989 European Parliament election, political grouping breakdown by countries.svg
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. 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%.

Contents

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
StateSeatsStateSeats
Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany 81Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 24
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom 81Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal 24
Flag of France.svg  France 81Flag of Greece.svg  Greece 24
Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 81Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 16
Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 60Flag of Ireland.svg  Ireland 15
Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 25Flag of Luxembourg.svg  Luxembourg 6

Results

European Parliament election, 1989 - Final results at 25 July 1989
Group DescriptionChaired by MEPs
  SOC Social Democrats Jean-Pierre Cot 180 European Parliament Composition 1989.svg
  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 Independentsnone12Total: 518Sources:

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%
EULLU
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
Total180121493420283117141312518

Statistics

European Parliament election, 1989 - Statistics
AreaDatesSeatsElectorateTurnoutPreviousNextElection methodsSources
European Community
(EC-12)
15-18 June
1989
518244,951,37958.5% 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 Parliament1989 Election and RegroupingThird Parliament
GroupsPre-elections
Last session
ChangeResults
July 25
New
Groups
First session
July 25
 SOC166+14180 SOC180
 EPP112+9121 EPP121
 LDR46+349 LDR49
 RBW20+2313 RBW13
30 G30
 COM48-628 EUL28
14 LU14
 ED66-3234 ED34
 EDA30-1020 EDA20
 ER16+117 DR17
 NI14-212 NI12
Total5180518Total518
Sources Archived 11 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine
European Parliament election, 1989 - Delegation at 25 July 1989
GroupDescriptionDetails%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 835%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 323%121
  LDR Liberals and Liberal DemocratsWest Germany 4, Belgium 4, Denmark 3, France 13, Ireland 2, Italy 3, Luxembourg 1, Netherlands 4, Spain 6, Portugal 99%49
  EUL & LU Communists and the Far Left Denmark 1, France 7, Ireland 1, Italy 22, Greece 4, Spain 4, Portugal 38%42 (28+14)
  ED Conservatives Denmark 2, UK 327%34
  G Greens West Germany 8, Belgium 3, France 8, Italy 7, Netherlands 2, Spain 1, Portugal 16%30
  EDA National Conservatives France 13, Ireland 6, Greece 14%20
  DR Far-Right NationalistsWest Germany 6, Belgium 1, France 103%17
  RBW Regionalists Belgium 1, Denmark 4, France 1, Ireland 1, Italy 3, UK 1, Spain 23%13
  NI IndependentsFrance 1, Italy 5, Netherlands 1, UK 1, Spain 42%12
Sources: Archived 11 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine 100%518

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