2009 European Parliament election in Italy

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2009 European Parliament election in Italy
Flag of Italy.svg
  2004 6 and 7 June 2009 2014  

72 seats to the European Parliament
 First partySecond partyThird party
  Berlusconi-2010-1.jpg Dario Franceschini 2008.jpg Umberto Bossi daticamera 2013.jpg
Leader Silvio Berlusconi Dario Franceschini Umberto Bossi
Party People of Freedom Democratic Party Northern League
Alliance EPP S&D EFD
Leader since18 January 199416 February 20094 December 1989
Last election32.4%, 25 seats31.1%, 24 seats5.0%, 4 seats
Seats won29219
Seat changeIncrease2.svg4Decrease2.svg3Increase2.svg5
Popular vote10,797,2967,999,4763,126,915
Percentage35.3%26.1%10.2%
SwingIncrease2.svg2.9%Decrease2.svg5.0%Increase2.svg5.2%

 Fourth partyFifth partySixth party
  Antonio Di Pietro Siena 2010.JPG Pier Ferdinando Casini 2008 (cropped).jpg Richard Theiner.jpg
Leader Antonio Di Pietro Pier Ferdinando Casini Richard Theiner
Party IdV UDC SVP
Alliance ALDE EPP EPP
Leader since21 March 199818 January 1994 (as CCD)18 April 2009
Last election2.1%, 2 seats5.9%, 5 seats0.5%, 1 seat
Seats won551
Seat changeIncrease2.svg5Steady2.svg0Steady2.svg0
Popular vote2,450,6431,995,021143,509
Percentage8.0%6.5%0.5%
SwingIncrease2.svg5.8%Increase2.svg0.6%Steady2.svg0

European Election 2009 Italy.png
Major parties in each Province

The 2009 European Parliament election in Italy was held on Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 June 2009, as decided by the Italian government on 18 December 2008. [1] Italy elected 72 members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

Contents

Electoral system

The party-list proportional representation was the traditional electoral system of the Italian Republic from its establishment in 1946 to 1994, therefore it was also adopted to elect the Italian members of the European Parliament (MEPs) since 1979.

Two levels were introduced: a national level to divide the seats among parties and a constituency level to distribute them among candidates in open lists. Five constituencies were established, each including 2–5 regions and each electing a fixed number of MEPs. At national level, seats are divided between party lists using the largest remainder method with Hare quota. Seats are allocated to parties and then to their most voted candidates.

In the run-up of the election, the Italian Parliament has introduced a national threshold of 4% in the electoral law for the European Parliament. An exception was granted for parties representing some linguistic minorities as such lists can be connected with one of the major parties, combining their votes, provided that those parties reach the 4% threshold and that candidates from minority parties obtain a sufficient number of votes, no less than 50,000 for the main candidate.

Main parties and leaders

Outgoing MEPs

This is a list of Italian delegations sitting at the European Parliament before 6 June 2009.

EP GroupSeatsPartyMEPs
EPP – ED
24 / 78
Forza Italia 20
Union of the Centre 2
Pensioners' Party 1
South Tyrolean People's Party 1
Socialist Group
21 / 78
Democratic Party (former DS)12
Socialist Party 4
Democratic Left 3
Independents 2
UEN
13 / 78
National Alliance 8
Northern League 3
The Right 1
Independent 1
ALDE
7 / 78
Democratic Party (former DL)4
Bonino List 2
Party of the South1
GUE–NGL
7 / 78
Communist Refoundation Party 5 [a]
Party of Italian Communists 2 [b]
Non-Inscrits
3 / 78
Tricolour Flame 1
New Force 1
Independent 1
Greens – EFA
2 / 78
Federation of the Greens 2
  1. Including two MEPs of Movement for the Left.
  2. Including one MEP of Unite the Left.

Summary of parties

In the following table the main parties/lists participating in the election are listed.

PartyMain ideologyLeaderEuropean
Party
Seats
The People of Freedom Liberal conservatism Silvio Berlusconi EPP
28 / 78
Democratic Party Social democracy Dario Franceschini None
16 / 78
Left and Freedom [a] Eco-socialism Several PES
EGP
9 / 78
Communist Refoundation – Italian Communists Communism Several PEL
4 / 78
Northern League Regionalism Umberto Bossi None
3 / 78
Union of the Centre Christian democracy Pier Ferdinando Casini EPP
2 / 78
Bonino-Pannella List Radicalism Marco Pannella ALDE
2 / 78
The Autonomy [b] SeveralSeveral Libertas
2 / 78
South Tyrolean People's Party Regionalism Richard Theiner EPP
1 / 78
Tricolour Flame Neo-fascism Luca Romagnoli None
1 / 78
New Force Neo-fascism Roberto Fiore None
1 / 78
Italy of Values Anti-corruption politics Antonio Di Pietro ALDE
0 / 78
Aosta Valley [c] Regionalism SeveralNone
0 / 78

Results

The parties that passed the national electoral threshold at 4% were The People of Freedom (PdL), Democratic Party (PD), Northern League (LN), Italy of Values (IdV) and Union of the Centre (UdC). This election was a victory for the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi: the parties supporting his government (The People of Freedom and Northern League) won 38 seats, while the opposition (Democratic Party, Italy of Values and Union of the Centre) obtained 34 seats.

On 1 December 2009, after the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, the Italian seats in the European Parliament increased from 72 to 73. The additional seat was assigned to the Union of the Centre (that went from 5 to 6 seats).

Summary of the 6 and 7 June 2009 European Parliament election results in Italy
PartyEP groupVotes%+/–Seats+/–
The People of Freedom (PdL) EPP 10,797,29635.261.35 Increase2.svg
29 / 72
4 Increase2.svg
Democratic Party (PD) S&D 7,999,47626.124.96 Decrease2.svg
21 / 72
3 Decrease2.svg
Northern League (LN) EFD 3,126,18110.215.25 Increase2.svg
9 / 72
5 Increase2.svg
Italy of Values (IdV) ALDE 2,450,6438.005.86 Increase2.svg
7 / 72
5 Increase2.svg
Union of the Centre (UdC) EPP 1,995,0216.510.62 Increase2.svg
5 / 72
0 Steady2.svg
Communist Refoundation – Italian Communists (PRC–PdCI)1,037,8623.395.09 Decrease2.svg
0 / 72
7 Decrease2.svg
Left and Freedom (SeL)957,8223.13
0 / 72
2 Decrease2.svg [2]
Bonino-Pannella List (LBP)743,2842.430.18 Increase2.svg
0 / 72
2 Decrease2.svg
The Autonomy 681,2902.22
0 / 72
1 Decrease2.svg [3]
Tricolour Flame (FT)246,4030.800.07 Increase2.svg
0 / 72
1 Decrease2.svg
Workers' Communist Party (PCL)166,5310.54New
0 / 72
New
New Force (FN)147,3430.48
0 / 72
0 Steady2.svg
South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP) [4] EPP 143,5090.470.02 Increase2.svg
1 / 72
0 Steady2.svg
Liberal DemocratsMAIE (LD–MAIE)71,0670.23New
0 / 72
New
Aosta Valley (VdA) [5] 32,9130.11
0 / 72
0 Steady2.svg
Autonomy Liberty Democracy (ALD) [6] 27,1990.09New
0 / 72
New
Valid votes30,623,84092.79
Blank and Invalid votes2,125,1647.21
Totals32,749,004100.00
0 / 72
6 Decrease2.svg
Electorate and voter turnout50,342,15365.05
Source: Ministry of the Interior
Popular vote
PdL
35.3%
PD
26.1%
LN
10.2%
IdV
8.0%
UdC
6.5%
PRC-PdCI
3.4%
SeL
3.1%
LBP
2.4%
AUT
2.2%
Others
2.8%

References

  1. "Elezioni europee e amministrative il 6 e 7 giugno 2009". Archived from the original on 14 February 2009. Retrieved 18 December 2008.
  2. Two seats lost by the Federation of the Greens
  3. One seat lost by the Pensioners' Party
  4. List connected with the Democratic Party
  5. List connected with The People of Freedom
  6. List connected with Italy of Values

See also