Italian general election, 1987

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Italian general election, 1987
Flag of Italy.svg
  1983 14 June 1987 1992  

All 630 seats in the Italian Chamber of Deputies
315 (of the 323) seats in the Italian Senate
Turnout 88.8%

  First party Second party Third party
  Ciriaco De Mita.jpg Alessandro Natta.jpg Bettino Craxi 2.jpg
Leader Ciriaco De Mita Alessandro Natta Bettino Craxi
Party Christian Democracy Communist Party Socialist Party
Leader since 1982 1984 1976
Leader's seat XXIV - Eastern Campania III - Ligury III - Milan
Seats won234 C / 125 S 177 C / 101 S 94 C / 36 S
Seat changeIncrease2.svg9 C / Increase2.svg5 SDecrease2.svg21 C / Decrease2.svg6 SIncrease2.svg21 C / Decrease2.svg2 S
Popular vote13,241,188 C
10,897,036 S
10,254,591 C
9,181,579 S
5,505,690 C
3,535,457 S
Percentage34.3% (C)
33.6% (S)
26.6% (C)
28.3% (S)
14.3% (C)
10.9% (S)
SwingIncrease2.svg1.4% C
Increase2.svg1.2% S
Decrease2.svg3.3% C
Decrease2.svg2.5% S
Increase2.svg2.9% C
Decrease2.svg0.5% S

Italian Election 1987 Province.png 1987 Italian Senate election map.png

Election results maps for the Chamber of Deputies (on the left) and for the Senate (on the right). Light Blue denotes provinces with a Christian Democratic plurality, Red denotes those with a Communist plurality, Gray denotes those with an Autonomist plurality.

PM before election

Amintore Fanfani
Christian Democracy

Elected PM

Giovanni Goria
Christian Democracy

General elections were held in Italy on 14 June 1987, to select the Tenth Republican Parliament. [1] This election marked the final inversion of the trend of the entire republican history of Italy: for the first time, the distance between the Christian Democrats and the Communists grew significantly instead of decreasing, and this fact was seen as the result of the deindustrialization of the country. The growth of the service sector of the economy, and the leadership of former PM Bettino Craxi, gave instead a new strength to the Socialists. A remarkable novelty was the rise of the new Green Lists, while a new party obtained its first two parliamentary seats: the North League.

Italy republic in Southern Europe

Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe. Located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and the enclaved microstates San Marino and Vatican City. Italy covers an area of 301,340 km2 (116,350 sq mi) and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. With around 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth-most populous EU member state and the most populous country in Southern Europe.

Deindustrialization

De-industrialisation is a process of social and economic change caused by the removal or reduction of industrial capacity or activity in a country or region, especially heavy industry or manufacturing industry. It is the opposite of industrialisation.

Bettino Craxi Italian politician

Benedetto "Bettino" Craxi was an Italian politician, leader of the Italian Socialist Party from 1976 to 1993 and Prime Minister of Italy from 1983 to 1987. He was the first member of the PSI to hold the office and the third Prime Minister from a socialist party. He led the third-longest government in the Italian Republic and he is considered one of the most powerful and prominent politicians of the so-called First Republic.

Contents

Electoral system

The pure party-list proportional representation had traditionally become the electoral system for the Chamber of Deputies. Italian provinces were united in 32 constituencies, each electing a group of candidates. At constituency level, seats were divided between open lists using the largest remainder method with Imperiali quota. Remaining votes and seats were transferred at national level, where they was divided using the Hare quota, and automatically distributed to best losers into the local lists.

Party-list proportional representation family of voting systems

Party-list proportional representation systems are a family of voting systems emphasizing proportional representation (PR) in elections in which multiple candidates are elected through allocations to an electoral list. They can also be used as part of mixed additional member systems.

Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a party's candidates are elected. This as opposed to closed list, which allows only active members, party officials, or consultants to determine the order of its candidates and gives the general voter no influence at all on the position of the candidates placed on the party list. Additionally, an open list system allows voters to select individuals rather than parties. Different systems give voter different amounts of influence. Voter's choice is usually called preference vote.

The largest remainder method is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems. It contrasts with various divisor methods.

For the Senate, 237 single-seat constituencies were established, even if the assembly had risen to 315 members. The candidates needed a landslide victory of two thirds of votes to be elected, a goal which could be reached only by the German minorities in South Tirol. All remained votes and seats were grouped in party lists and regional constituencies, where a D'Hondt method was used: inside the lists, candidates with the best percentages were elected.

The D'Hondt method or the Jefferson method is a highest averages method for allocating seats, and is thus a type of party-list proportional representation. The method described is named in the United States after Thomas Jefferson, who introduced the method for proportional allocation of seats in the United States House of Representatives in 1791, and in Europe after Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt, who described it in 1878 for proportional allocation of parliamentary seats to the parties. There are two forms: closed list and an open list.

Historical background

In the 1980s, for the first time since 1945, two governments were led by non-Christian Democrat Premiers: the republican Giovanni Spadolini and the socialist Bettino Craxi; the Christian Democracy remained however the main force supporting the government.

Giovanni Spadolini 45th Prime Minister of Italy

Giovanni Spadolini was a Republican Italian politician, the 44th Prime Minister of Italy, newspaper editor, journalist and a historian.

With the end of the Years of Lead, the Italian Communist Party gradually increased their votes under the leadership of Enrico Berlinguer. The Socialist party (PSI), led by Craxi, became more and more critical of the communists and of the Soviet Union; Craxi himself pushed in favour of US president Ronald Reagan's positioning of Pershing II missiles in Italy, a move the communists hotly contested.

Years of Lead (Italy)

The Years of Lead is a term used for a period of social and political turmoil in Italy that lasted from the late 1960s until the late 1980s, marked by a wave of both left-wing and right-wing incidents of political terrorism.

Italian Communist Party communist political party in Italy (1943–1991)

The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.

Enrico Berlinguer Italian politician

Enrico Berlinguer was an Italian politician.

In June 1984 Berlinguer, the charismatic Communist leader, suddenly left the stage during a speech at a public meeting in Padua: he had suffered a brain haemorrhage, and died three days later. More than a million citizens attended his funeral, one of the biggest in Italy's history. Alessandro Natta was appointed as new party's secretary. The public emotion caused by Berlinguer's death resulted in an extraordinary strength for the Communist Party in the 1984 European election: for the first time in Western Europe since the French election of 1956, and for the first time ever in Italian history, a Communist party received a plurality by a democratic vote.

Padua Comune in Veneto, Italy

Padua is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 214,000. The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area (PATREVE) which has a population of c. 2,600,000.

Alessandro Natta Italian politician

Alessandro Natta, was an Italian politician and secretary of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) from 1984 to 1988.

In 1984, the Craxi government revised the 1927 Lateran Pacts with the Vatican, which concluded the role of Catholicism as Italy's state religion.

During this period, Italy became the fifth-largest industrial nation and gained entry into the G7.

Parties and leaders

PartyIdeologyLeader
Christian Democracy (DC) Christian democracy Ciriaco De Mita
Italian Communist Party (PCI) Communism Alessandro Natta
Italian Socialist Party (PSI) Social democracy Bettino Craxi
Italian Social Movement (MSI) Neo-fascism Giorgio Almirante
Italian Republican Party (PRI) Social liberalism Giorgio La Malfa
Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI) Social democracy Franco Nicolazzi
Radical Party (PR) Radicalism Marco Pannella
Green Lists (LV) Green politics Gianni Mattioli
Italian Liberal Party (PLI) Conservative liberalism Renato Altissimo
Proletarian Democracy (DP) Communism Mario Capanna

Results

Chamber of Deputies

Summary of the 14 June 1987 Chamber of Deputies election results
Italian Chamber of Deputies 1987.svg
PartyVotes%Seats+/−
Christian Democracy 13,233,62034.31234+9
Italian Communist Party 10,250,64426.58177−21
Italian Socialist Party 5,501,69614.2694+21
Italian Social Movement 2,281,1265.9135−7
Italian Republican Party 1,428,6633.7021−8
Italian Democratic Socialist Party 1,140,2092.9617−6
Radical Party 987,7202.5613+2
Green List 969,2182.5113New
Italian Liberal Party 809,9462.1011−5
Proletarian Democracy 641,9011.668+1
Liga VenetaUnited Pensioners 298,4020.770±0
South Tyrolean People's Party 202,0220.523±0
Lega Lombarda 186,2550.481New
Sardinian Action Party 169,9780.442+1
Piedmont Regional Autonomy 72,0640.190New
Piedmont 61,7010.160New
Hunting, Fishing, Environment55,9770.140New
Aosta Valley 41,7070.111±0
Others238,2720.630±0
Invalid/blank votes2,015,065
Total40,586,573100630±0
Registered voters/turnout45,692,41788.83
Source: Ministry of the Interior
Popular vote
DC
34.31%
PCI
26.58%
PSI
14.26%
MSI
5.91%
PRI
3.70%
PSDI
2.96%
PR
2.56%
LV
2.51%
PLI
2.10%
DP
1.66%
Others
3.44%
Seats
DC
37.14%
PCI
28.10%
PSI
14.92%
MSI
5.56%
PRI
3.33%
PSDI
2.70%
PR
2.06%
LV
2.06%
PLI
1.75%
DP
1.27%
Others
1.11%

Senate of the Republic

Summary of the 14 June 1987 Senate of the Republic election results
Italian Senate in 1987.svg
PartyVotes%Seats+/−
Christian Democracy 10,897,03633.62125+5
Italian Communist Party 9,181,57928.33101−6
Italian Socialist Party 3,535,45710.9136−2
Italian Social Movement 2,121,0266.5416−2
Italian Republican Party 1,248,6413.858−2
PSIPSDIPR 962,2152.979±0
Italian Democratic Socialist Party 764,3702.365−3
Italian Liberal Party 700,3302.163–3
Green List 634,1821.961New
Radical Party 572,4611.773+2
Proletarian Democracy 493,6671.521+1
Liga VenetaUnited Pensioners 298,5520.920−1
South Tyrolean People's Party 171,5390.532−1
Lega Lombarda 137,2760.421New
Sardinian Action Party 124,2660.381±0
Secular-Socialist Alliance84,8830.261New
Piedmont Regional Autonomy 60,7420.190New
PSIPSDIPRGreens 58,5010.181±0
Pensioners Popular Alliance51,7900.160New
Piedmont 51,3400.160New
Molisean Democratic Alliance49,2970.150New
Hunting, Fishing, Environment41,1350.130New
Aosta Valley 35,8300.111±0
Others137,7460.430±0
Invalid/blank votes2,007,369
Total34,421,230100315±0
Registered voters/turnout38,951,48588.37
Source: Ministry of the Interior
Popular vote
DC
33.62%
PCI
28.33%
PSI
10.91%
MSI
6.54%
PRI
3.85%
PSIPSDIPR
2.97%
PSDI
2.36%
PLI
2.16%
LV
1.96%
PR
1.77%
DP
1.52%
Others
3.62%
Seats
DC
39.68%
PCI
32.06%
PSI
11.43%
MSI
5.08%
PSIPSDIPR
2.86%
PRI
2.54%
PSDI
1.59%
PLI
0.95%
PR
0.95%
LV
0.32%
DP
0.32%
Others
2.22%

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References

  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1048 ISBN   978-3-8329-5609-7