The 1994 European Parliament election in Italy was the election of the delegation from Italy to the European Parliament in 1994. It was the first continental election after the Tangentopoli scandal, which destroyed the traditional republican parties of the First Italian Republic; consequently, all new parties contested the race.

Electoral system

The pure party-list proportional representation was the traditional electoral system of the Italian Republic since its foundation in 1946, so it had been adopted to elect the Italian representatives to the European Parliament too. 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, Veneto18CentralLatium, Marche, Tuscany, Umbria20SouthernAbruzzo, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise16IslandsSardinia, Sicily8

Main parties and leaders Outgoing MEPs

EP GroupSeatsPartyMEPsSocialist GroupDemocratic Party of the Left20Italian Socialist Party12Italian Democratic Socialist Party2European People's Party GroupChristian Democracy (PPI)26South Tyrolean People's Party 1Green GroupFederation of the Greens 5Proletarian Democracy (PRC)1European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party GroupItalian Republican Party3Antiprohibitionists on Drugs (Pannella List)1Rainbow GroupSardinian Action Party 1Non-InscritsItalian Social Movement (AN) 4Communist Refoundation Party 2Lombard League (LN)2Federalists (Pannella List) 1

Summary of parties

PartyMain ideologyLeaderEuropeanpartyOutgoing MEPsItalian People's Party (PPI)Christian democracyRosa Russo IervolinoEPPDemocratic Party of the Left (PDS)Democratic socialismAchille OcchettoPESItalian Socialist Party – Democratic Alliance (PSI– AD)Social democracyOttaviano Del Turco Willer BordonPESFederation of the Greens (FdV)Green politicsCarlo Ripa di MeanaEFGPNational Alliance (AN)National conservatismGianfranco FiniNoneCommunist Refoundation Party (PRC)CommunismFausto BertinottiNoneItalian Republican Party (PRI)LiberalismGiorgio La MalfaELDRItalian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI)Social democracyEnrico FerriPESPannella List LibertarianismMarco PannellaNoneNorthern League (LN)RegionalismUmberto BossiEFASouth Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)RegionalismSiegfried BruggerEPPForza Italia (FI)Liberal conservatismSilvio BerlusconiNoneSegni Pact Christian democracyMario SegniNoneThe Network Anti-corruptionLeoluca OrlandoNone

Results

The new party (FI), led by the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, won the election with 30.6% of the vote and 27 seats. The second party was the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS), main heir of the Italian Communist Party (PCI), which gained 19.1% of the vote and 16 seats, while the third party was National Alliance (AN), heir of the Italian Social Movement (MSI), which gained 12.5% of the vote and 11 seats. The Italian People's Party (PPI), main heir of Christian Democracy (DC), gained 10.0% of the vote and 8 seats.

+ ← Summary of the 12 June 1994 European Parliament election results in Italy → National party EP group Votes % +/– Seats +/– (FI) FE10,089,13930.62New27New PES6,281,35419.068.52 Confrontation with the PCI166 National Alliance (AN) NI 4,108,67012.476.96 Confrontation with the MSI117 Italian People's Party (PPI) EPP3,295,33710.0022.90 Confrontation with the DC818 Northern League (LN) ELDR 2,162,5866.564.73 64 Communist Refoundation Party (PRC) EUL 2,004,7166.08 New5New Segni Pact (PS) EPP1,073,0953.26New3New Federation of the Greens (FdV) Green1,055,7973.20 2.97 Two different lists in 198932 Pannella List (LP) ERA 702,7172.130.89 Confrontation with the Antiprohibitionists on Drugs that did not included Marco Pannella21 PES606,5381.8412.96 Confrontation with the PSI210 The Network (LR) Green 366,2581.11 New1New Italian Republican Party (PRI) ELDR242,7860.74 –12 Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI) NI 227,4390.69 2.03 11 Southern Action League (LAM) None224,0330.67 New0New South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)List connected with the Italian People's Party EPP202,6680.62 0.12 10 Federalism (UV–SN–LAV–PN) None126,9370.390.21 01 Lombard Alpine League (LAL) None 110,4580.34 New0New Federation of Liberals (FdL) None53,9830.16New0New Solidarity None 15,2140.05New0New Valid votes 32,949,725 Blank and invalid votes 2,753,484 Totals 35,667,440 100.00 — 87 6 Electorate (eligible voters) and voter turnout 48,461,792 73.60 7.47 Source: Ministry of the Interior

See also 1994 Italian general election

References