2009 European Parliament election in Italy
6 and 7 June 2009
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
72 seats to the European Parliament | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Italian 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 introduced a national electoral 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.
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 Region | Administrative Regions | Seats |
|---|---|---|
| North-West | Aosta Valley, Liguria, Lombardy, Piedmont | 21 |
| North-East | Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Veneto | 15 |
| Central | Latium, Marche, Tuscany, Umbria | 15 |
| Southern | Abruzzo, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise | 15 |
| Islands | Sardinia, Sicily | 6 |
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| European People's Party–European Democrats | 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 | |||
| Union for Europe of the Nations | 13 / 78
| |||
| National Alliance | 8 | |||
| Northern League | 3 | |||
| The Right | 1 | |||
| Independent | 1 | |||
| Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe | 7 / 78
| |||
| Democratic Party (former DL) | 4 | |||
| Bonino List | 2 | |||
| Party of the South | 1 | |||
| European United Left–Nordic Green Left | 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–European Free Alliance | 2 / 78
|
Federation of the Greens | 2 | |
- ^ Including two MEPs of Movement for the Left.
- ^ 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
| |
- ^ List composed of Movement for the Left, Unite the Left, Democratic Left, Socialist Party and Federation of the Greens.
- ^ List composed of Movement for the Autonomies, The Right, Pensioners' Party and Alliance of the Centre.
- ^ 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 PDL and LN) won 38 seats, while the opposition (PD, IdV, and UdC) 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 UdC, going from 5 to 6 seats.
| Party | EP group | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The People of Freedom (PdL) | EPP | 10,797,296 | 35.26 | 1.35 |
29 / 72
|
4 | |
| Democratic Party (PD) | S&D | 7,999,476 | 26.12 | 4.96 |
21 / 72
|
3 | |
| Northern League (LN) | EFD | 3,126,181 | 10.21 | 5.25 |
9 / 72
|
5 | |
| Italy of Values (IdV) | ALDE | 2,450,643 | 8.00 | 5.86 |
7 / 72
|
5 | |
| Union of the Centre (UdC) | EPP | 1,995,021 | 6.51 | 0.62 |
5 / 72
|
0 | |
| Communist Refoundation – Italian Communists (PRC–PdCI) | – | 1,037,862 | 3.39 | 5.09 |
0 / 72
|
7 | |
| Left and Freedom (SeL) | – | 957,822 | 3.13 | – | 0 / 72
|
2 | |
| Bonino-Pannella List (LBP) | – | 743,284 | 2.43 | 0.18 |
0 / 72
|
2 | |
| The Autonomy | – | 681,290 | 2.22 | – | 0 / 72
|
1 | |
| Tricolour Flame (FT) | – | 246,403 | 0.80 | 0.07 |
0 / 72
|
1 | |
| Workers' Communist Party (PCL) | – | 166,531 | 0.54 | New | 0 / 72
|
New | |
| New Force (FN) | – | 147,343 | 0.48 | – | 0 / 72
|
0 | |
| South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)[4] | EPP | 143,509 | 0.47 | 0.02 |
1 / 72
|
0 | |
| Liberal Democrats – MAIE (LD–MAIE) | – | 71,067 | 0.23 | New | 0 / 72
|
New | |
| Aosta Valley (VdA)[5] | – | 32,913 | 0.11 | – | 0 / 72
|
0 | |
| Autonomy Liberty Democracy (ALD)[6] | – | 27,199 | 0.09 | 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 | ||
| Electorate and voter turnout | 50,342,153 | 65.05 | |||||
| Source: Ministry of the Interior | |||||||
See also
- 2009 European Parliament election in Aosta Valley
- 2009 European Parliament election in Friuli-Venezia Giulia
- 2009 European Parliament election in Lombardy
- 2009 European Parliament election in Piedmont
- 2009 European Parliament election in Sardinia
- 2009 European Parliament election in Sicily
- 2009 European Parliament election in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol
References
- ^ "Elezioni europee e amministrative il 6 e 7 giugno 2009". Archived from the original on 14 February 2009. Retrieved 18 December 2008.
- ^ Two seats lost by the Federation of the Greens
- ^ One seat lost by the Pensioners' Party
- ^ List connected with the Democratic Party
- ^ List connected with The People of Freedom
- ^ List connected with Italy of Values
