The 1979 European Parliament election in Italy was held on 10 June 1979. As the 1979 Italian general election was held on 3 June, just a week before, the lack of matching between the two elections caused much controversy for wasting public money.
Electoral system
The pure party-list proportional representation was the traditional electoral system of the Italian Republic since its foundation in 1946, so it was naturally adopted to elect the Italian representatives to the European Parliament. 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.
Constituencies
Seats are allocated to party lists on a national basis using an electoral quota, with the residue given to the lists with the largest excess over whole quotas. An electoral quota is then calculated for each list and used to allocate seats to each list in each of the five electoral regions.
Electoral RegionAdministrative RegionsSeatsNorth-WestAosta Valley, Liguria, Lombardy, Piedmont25North-EastEmilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Veneto17CentralLatium, Marche, Tuscany, Umbria17SouthernAbruzzo, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise15IslandsSardinia, Sicily7
Results
As the election took place just a week after the general election, it gave a similar result; however, the minor importance of the European ballot caused a lower turnout, which particularly punished the two major parties, Christian Democracy (DC) and the Italian Communist Party (PCI). The small Italian Liberal Party (PLI) had a breath of fresh air from this vote, doubling its percentage compared to seven days before.
+ Summary of 10 June 1979 European Parliament election results in ItalyItalian Ministry of the Interior → National party EP group Votes % SeatsChristian Democracy (DC) EPP12,774,320 36.45 29 Italian Communist Party (PCI) COM 10,361,344 29.57 24 Italian Socialist Party (PSI) SOC3,866,946 11.03 9Italian Social Movement (MSI) NI 1,909,055 5.45 4 Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI) SOC 1,514,272 4.32 4 Radical Party (PR) TGI1,285,065 3.67 3 Italian Liberal Party (PLI) LD1,271,159 3.63 3 Italian Republican Party (PRI) LD896,139 2.56 2 Proletarian Unity Party (PdUP) TGI 406,656 1.16 1 Proletarian Democracy (DP) TGI 252,342 0.72 1 South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP) EPP196,373 0.56 1 Federalism (Valdostan Union–Others) None166,393 0.470 National Democracy (DN) None 142,537 0.410 Valid votes 35,042,601 96.94 Blank and invalid votes 1,105,579 3.06 Totals 36,148,180 100.00 81 Electorate (eligible voters) and voter turnout 42,203,405 85.65 —
References
External links Italian Minister of Interior