2009 European Parliament election in Italy

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. Italy elected 72 members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

2009 European Parliament election in Italy

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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 4 3 5 Popular vote 10,797,296 7,999,476 3,126,915 Percentage 35.3% 26.1% 10.2% Swing 2.9% 5.0% 5.2%   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 21 March 1998 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 5 0 0 Popular vote 2,450,643 1,995,021 143,509 Percentage 8.0% 6.5% 0.5% Swing 5.8% 0.6% 0
Major parties in each Province

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
			Party of Italian Communists	2
	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	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	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	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).

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	The People of Freedom	10,797,296	35.26	+1.35	29	+4
	Democratic Party	7,999,476	26.12	-4.96	21	-3
	Lega Nord	3,126,181	10.21	+5.25	9	+5
	Italy of Values	2,450,643	8.00	+5.86	7	+5
	Union of the Centre	1,995,021	6.51	+0.62	5	0
	Communist Refoundation – Italian Communists	1,037,862	3.39	-5.09	0	-7
	Left and Freedom	957,822	3.13		0	-2
	Bonino-Pannella List	743,284	2.43	+0.18	0	-2
	The Autonomy	681,290	2.22		0	-1
	Tricolour Flame	246,403	0.80	+0.07	0	-1
	Workers' Communist Party	166,531	0.54	New	0	New
	New Force	147,343	0.48		0	0
	South Tyrolean People's Party	143,509	0.47	+0.02	1	0
	Liberal Democrats – MAIE	71,067	0.23	New	0	New
	Aosta Valley	32,913	0.11		0	0
	Autonomy Liberty Democracy	27,199	0.09	New	0	New
Total		30,623,840	100.00	–	72	-6
Valid votes		30,623,840	93.51
Invalid votes		1,139,746	3.48
Blank votes		985,418	3.01
Total votes		32,749,004	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		50,342,153	65.05
Source: Ministry of the Interior

See also

• 2009 European Parliament election in Lombardy