2009 European Parliament election in Italy

2009 European Parliament election in Italy
← 2004 6 and 7 June 2009 2014 →
72 seats to the European Parliament
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Silvio Berlusconi Dario Franceschini Umberto Bossi
Party People of Freedom Democratic Party Northern League
Alliance EPP S&D EFD
Leader since 18 January 1994 16 February 2009 4 December 1989
Last election 32.4%, 25 seats 31.1%, 24 seats 5.0%, 4 seats
Seats won 29 21 9
Seat change Increase4 Decrease3 Increase5
Popular vote 10,797,296 7,999,476 3,126,915
Percentage 35.3% 26.1% 10.2%
Swing Increase2.9% Decrease5.0% Increase5.2%
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Antonio Di Pietro Pier Ferdinando Casini Richard Theiner
Party IdV UDC SVP
Alliance ALDE EPP EPP
Leader since 4 December 1989 18 January 1994 (as CCD) 18 April 2009
Last election 2.1%, 2 seats 5.9%, 5 seats 0.5%, 1 seat
Seats won 5 5 1
Seat change Increase5 Steady0 Steady0
Popular vote 2,450,643 1,995,021 143,509
Percentage 8.0% 6.5% 0.5%
Swing Increase5.8% Increase0.6% Steady0
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).

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 Group Seats Party MEPs
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 South 1
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.

Party Main ideology Leader European
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] Several Several 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 Several None
0 / 78
  1. ^ List composed of Movement for the Left, Unite the Left, Democratic Left, Socialist Party and Federation of the Greens.
  2. ^ List composed of Movement for the Autonomies, The Right, Pensioners' Party and Alliance of the Centre.
  3. ^ List composed of Valdostan Union, Edelweiss and Autonomist Federation.

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 →
Party EP group Main candidate Votes % +/– Seats +/–
The People of Freedom (PdL) EPP Silvio Berlusconi 10,797,296 35.26 1.35 Increase
29 / 72
 4 Increase
Aosta Valley (VdA) – 32,913 0.11 –
0 / 72
 0 Steady
Total EPP 10,830,209 35.37 1.37 Increase
29 / 72
 4 Increase
Democratic Party (PD) S&D David Sassoli 7,999,476 26.12 4.96 Decrease
21 / 72
 3 Decrease
South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP) EPP Herbert Dorfmann 143,509 0.47 0.02 Increase
1 / 72
 0 Steady
Total Mixed 8,142,985 26.59 4.94 Decrease
22 / 72
 3 Decrease
Northern League (LN) EFD Umberto Bossi 3,126,181 10.21 5.25 Increase
9 / 72
 5 Increase
Italy of Values (IdV) ALDE Luigi de Magistris 2,450,643 8.00 5.86 Increase
7 / 72
 5 Increase
Autonomy Liberty Democracy (ALD) – 27,199 0.09 New
0 / 72
 New
Total ALDE 2,477,842 8.09 5.95 Decrease
7 / 72
 5 Decrease
Union of the Centre (UdC) EPP Ciriaco De Mita 1,995,021 6.51 0.62 Increase
5 / 72
 0 Steady
Communist Refoundation – Italian Communists (PRC–PdCI) – 1,037,862 3.39 5.09 Decrease
0 / 72
 7 Decrease
Left and Freedom (SeL) – 957,822 3.13 –
0 / 72
 2 Decrease[2]
Bonino-Pannella List (LBP) – 743,284 2.43 0.18 Increase
0 / 72
 2 Decrease
The Autonomy – 681,290 2.22 –
0 / 72
 1 Decrease[3]
Tricolour Flame (FT) – 246,403 0.80 0.07 Increase
0 / 72
 1 Decrease
Workers' Communist Party (PCL) – 166,531 0.54 New
0 / 72
 New
New Force (FN) – 147,343 0.48 –
0 / 72
 0 Steady
Liberal Democrats – MAIE (LD–MAIE) – 71,067 0.23 New
0 / 72
 New
Valid votes 30,623,840 92.79
Blank and Invalid votes 2,125,164 7.21
Totals 32,749,004 100.00 —
0 / 72
 		6 Decrease
Electorate and voter turnout 50,342,153 65.05
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

See also

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