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1979 Italian general election

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1979 Italian general election

← 1976 3 June 1979 1983 →

All 630 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
316 seats needed for a majority
All 315 elective seats in the Senate
162 seats needed for a majority[a]
Registered42,203,354 (C· 36,362,037 (S)
Turnout38,242,918 (C· 90.6% (Decrease2.8 pp)
32,976,304 (S· 90.7% (Decrease2.7 pp)
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Benigno Zaccagnini.jpg
Enrico Berlinguer 1976.jpg
Craxi_1972.jpg
Leader Benigno Zaccagnini Enrico Berlinguer Bettino Craxi
Party DC PCI PSI
Leader since 21 July 1975 17 March 1972 15 July 1976
Leader's seat Bologna (C) Rome (C) Milan (C)
Seats won 262 (C) / 138 (S) 201 (C) / 109 (S) 62 (C) / 32 (S)
Seat change Decrease1 (C) / Increase3 (S) Decrease26 (C) / Decrease7 (S) Increase5 (C) / Increase3 (S)
Popular vote 14,046,290 (C)
12,010,716 (S)
11,139,231 (C)
9,855,951 (S)
3,630,052 (C)
3,252,410 (S)
Percentage 38.3% (C)
38.3% (S)
30.4% (C)
31.5% (S)
9.9% (C)
10.4% (S)
Swing Decrease0.4 pp (C)
Decrease0.5 pp (S)
Decrease4.0 pp (C)
Decrease2.3 pp (S)
Increase0.3 pp (C)
Increase0.2 pp (S)

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Giorgio Almirante 1979.jpg
Pietro Longo IX Legislatura.jpg
Marco Pannella 1979.jpg
Leader Giorgio Almirante Pietro Longo Marco Pannella
Party MSI PSDI PR
Leader since 29 June 1969[b] 20 October 1978 18 July 1976[c]
Leader's seat Rome (C) Rome (C) Naples (C)
Seats won 30 (C) / 13 (S) 20 (C) / 9 (S) 18 (C) / 2 (S)
Seat change Decrease5 (C) / Decrease2 (S) Increase5 (C) / Increase3 (S) Increase14 (C) / Increase2 (S)
Popular vote 1,930,639 (C)
1,780,950 (S)
1,407,535 (C)
1,320,729 (S)
1,264,870 (C)
413,444 (S)
Percentage 5.3% (C)
5.7% (S)
3.8% (C)
4.2% (S)
3.5% (C)
1.3% (S)
Swing Decrease0.8 pp (C)
Decrease0.9 pp (S)
Increase0.4 pp (C)
Increase1.1 pp (S)
Increase2.4 pp (C)
Increase0.4 pp (S)

Results of the election in the Chamber and Senate.

Prime Minister before election

Giulio Andreotti
DC

Prime Minister after the election

Francesco Cossiga
DC

The 1979 Italian general election was held in Italy on 3 June 1979.[1] This election was called just a week before the European elections.

Terrorist attacks by the Red Brigades led to a reversal of the results of the previous election three years before: for the first time the Italian Communist Party lost significant numbers of seats, delaying the government change that had seemed imminent in 1976. The Communist defeat gave new strength to minor parties, as tactical voting for Christian Democracy seemed less necessary to prevent a communist victory. The Christian Democrats remained stable nonetheless, while the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement was weakened by the success of its spin-off National Democracy.

Electoral system

[edit]

The pure party-list proportional representation had traditionally become the electoral system for the Chamber of Deputies. Italian provinces were united in 32 constituencies, each electing a group of candidates. At constituency level, seats were divided between open lists using the largest remainder method with Imperiali quota. Remaining votes and seats were transferred at national level, where they were divided using the Hare quota, and automatically distributed to best losers into the local lists.

For the Senate, 237 single-seat constituencies were established, even if the assembly had risen to 315 members. The candidates needed a landslide victory of two thirds of votes to be elected, a goal which could be reached only by the German minorities in South Tirol. All remained votes and seats were grouped in party lists and regional constituencies, where a D'Hondt method was used: inside the lists, candidates with the best percentages were elected.

Historical background

[edit]
Moro, photographed during his kidnapping by the Red Brigades.

On 16 July 1976, Bettino Craxi was elected to the vacant Italian Socialist Party chairman position, ending years of factional fighting within the party. Ironically, the "old guard" saw him as short-lived leader, allowing each faction time to regroup. However, he was able to hold on to power and implement his policies. In particular, he sought and managed to distance his party away from the communists bringing it into an alliance with Christian Democracy and other centrist parties, but maintaining a leftist and reformist profile.

On 16 March 1978, former Prime Minister and Christian Democratic leader Aldo Moro was kidnapped by the Red Brigades, and five of his bodyguards killed. The Red Brigades were a militant leftist group, then led by Mario Moretti. Aldo Moro was a left-leaning Christian Democrat who served several times as Prime Minister. Before his murder he was trying to include the Italian Communist Party (PCI), headed by Enrico Berlinguer, in the government through a deal called the Historic Compromise. The PCI was the largest communist party in western Europe. This was largely because of its non-extremist and pragmatic stance, its growing independence from Moscow and its eurocommunist doctrine. The PCI was especially strong in areas such as Emilia Romagna, where it had stable government positions and mature practical experience, which may have contributed to a more pragmatic approach to politics. The Red Brigades were fiercely opposed by the Communist Party and trade unions, a few left-wing politicians even used the condescending expression "comrades who do wrong" (Compagni che sbagliano). The circumstances surrounding Aldo Moro's murder have never been made clear, but the consequences included the fact that PCI did not gain executive power.

Investigative journalist Carmine Pecorelli was assassinated on March 20, 1979. In a May 1978 article, he had drawn connections between Aldo Moro's kidnapping and Gladio.[2]

In the period of terror attacks of the late 1970s and early 1980s, the parliamentary majority was composed by the parties of the "Arco costituzionale", i.e. all parties supporting the Constitution, including the Communists (who in fact took a very strong stance against the Red Brigades and other terrorist groups). However, the Communists never took part in the Government itself, which was composed by the "Pentapartito" (Christian Democrats, Socialists, Social Democrats, Liberals, Republicans).

Parties and leaders

[edit]
Party Ideology Leader Seats in 1976
C S Total
Christian Democracy (DC) Christian democracy Benigno Zaccagnini
262
135
397
Italian Communist Party (PCI) Eurocommunism Enrico Berlinguer
229
116
345
Italian Socialist Party (PSI) Social democracy Bettino Craxi
57
30
87
Italian Social Movement (MSI) Neo-fascism Giorgio Almirante
35
15
50
Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI) Social democracy Pietro Longo
15
7
22
Italian Republican Party (PRI) Social liberalism Giovanni Spadolini
14
7
21
Italian Liberal Party (PLI) Conservative liberalism Valerio Zanone
5
2
7
Radical Party (PR) Radicalism Marco Pannella
4
0
4
Proletarian Unity Party (PdUP) Communism Vittorio Foa
New

Results

[edit]

Even this eighth legislature of the Italian Republic was a period of great instability. After the election, the Christian-Democratic leadership instructed moderate Francesco Cossiga to form a centrist minority government with the PSDI and the PLI, which accepted an official engagement into the government for the first time since 1973; however, when in 1980 Benigno Zaccagnini was fired as Secretary of the DC and socialist leader Bettino Craxi offered his help, Cossiga suddenly resigned and formed a new centre-left government with the PSI and the PRI, underling that the Catholic leaders had no more problems to choose their allies from anywhere. However, Cossiga later fell on a budget project, and a traditional centre-left government led by Arnaldo Forlani was formed. The great scandal of the masonic lodge P2 sank Forlani in 1981.

This deep political crisis marked the birth of a new political formula which ruled Italy during the 80's: the Pentapartito (or five parties), which was no more than the fusion of the two main alliances that DC had used to rule Italy since 1947, the centrism and the centre-left. This formula became possible because Bettino Craxi's Italian Socialist Party and Valerio Zanone's Italian Liberal Party accepted to form their first republican government together, moderating their positions and passing the opposition that had always divided them. But the Pentapartito pact had another important condition: the DC accepted to recognize a pair role with the other four parties, alternating into the government leadership. The Secretary of the Italian Republican Party, Giovanni Spadolini, so became the first non-DC Prime Minister of Italy since 1945. However, his little party was unable to stop the quarrels between their great allies, and after a little crisis during summer 1982, Spadolini resigned in autumn of the same year. Former-PM Amintore Fanfani formed a new government without the offended republicans, but the PSI, which had good surveys, imposed the final crisis in 1983 and a new general election.

Chamber of Deputies

[edit]
Summary of the 3 June 1979 Chamber of Deputies election results
Party Votes % Seats +/−
Christian Democracy (DC) 14,046,290 38.30 262 ±0
Italian Communist Party (PCI) 11,139,231 30.38 201 −26
Italian Socialist Party (PSI) 3,596,802 9.81 62 +5
Italian Social Movement (MSI) 1,930,639 5.26 30 −5
Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI) 1,407,535 3.84 20 +5
Radical Party (PR) 1,264,870 3.45 18 +14
Italian Republican Party 1,110,209 3.03 16 +2
Italian Liberal Party (PLI) 712,646 1.94 9 +4
Proletarian Unity Party (PdUP) 502,247 1.37 6 ±0
New United Left (NSU) 294,462 0.80 0 New
National Democracy (DN) 229,205 0.63 0 New
South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP) 204,899 0.56 4 +1
List for Trieste (LpT) 65,505 0.18 1 New
Friuli Movement (MF) 35,254 0.10 0 New
Valdostan Union (UV) 33,250 0.09 1 +1
Others 98,264 0.30 0 ±0
Invalid/blank votes 1,571,610
Total 38,242,918 100 630 ±0
Registered voters/turnout 42,203,354 90.62
Source: Ministry of the Interior
Popular vote
DC
38.30%
PCI
30.38%
PSI
9.81%
MSI
5.26%
PSDI
3.84%
PR
3.45%
PRI
3.03%
PLI
1.94%
PdUP
1.37%
Others
2.62%
Seats
DC
41.59%
PCI
31.90%
PSI
9.84%
MSI
4.76%
PSDI
3.17%
PR
2.86%
PRI
2.54%
PLI
1.43%
PdUP
0.95%
Others
0.95%

Results by constituency

[edit]
Constituency Total
seats
Seats won
DC PCI PSI MSI PSDI PR PRI PLI PdUP Others
Turin 39 12 13 4 1 2 2 2 2 1
Cuneo 15 7 4 1 1 1 1
Genoa 23 8 8 3 1 1 1 1
Milan 52 18 17 6 2 2 2 2 2 1
Como 20 9 5 2 1 1 1 1
Brescia 23 12 5 2 1 1 1 1
Mantua 8 4 3 1
Trentino 10 4 1 1 4
Verona 29 16 6 2 1 1 1 1 1
Venice 17 8 5 2 1 1
Udine 11 6 3 1 1
Bologna 27 7 13 2 1 1 1 2
Parma 19 6 10 2 1
Florence 15 5 9 1
Pisa 14 5 7 2
Siena 9 3 5 1
Ancona 17 7 7 1 1 1
Perugia 10 4 5 1
Rome 54 20 16 5 4 2 3 2 1 1
L'Aquila 14 7 5 1 1
Campobasso 4 3 1
Naples 38 16 11 3 4 1 1 1 1
Benevento 18 10 4 2 1 1
Bari 23 10 7 2 2 1 1
Lecce 18 9 5 2 2
Potenza 7 4 2 1
Catanzaro 23 10 6 3 2 1 1
Catania 27 12 6 3 3 1 1 1
Palermo 25 12 5 3 2 1 1 1
Cagliari 17 7 6 2 1 1
Aosta Valley 1 1
Trieste 3 1 1 1
Total 630 262 201 62 30 20 18 16 9 6 6

Senate of the Republic

[edit]
Summary of the 3 June 1979 Senate of the Republic election results
Party Votes % Seats +/−
Christian Democracy (DC) 12,010,716 38.34 138 +3
Italian Communist Party (PCI) 9,855,951 31.46 109 −7
Italian Socialist Party (PSI) 3,252,410 10.38 32 +3
Italian Social Movement (MSI) 1,780,950 5.68 13 −2
Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI) 1,320,729 4.22 9 +3
Italian Republican Party (PRI) 1,053,251 3.36 6 ±0
Italian Liberal Party (PLI) 691,718 2.21 2 ±0
Radical Party (PR) 413,444 1.32 2 +2
Radical Party–New United Left (PR–NSU) 365,954 1.17 0 New
National Democracy (DN) 176,966 0.56 0 New
South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP) 172,582 0.55 3 +1
List for Trieste (LpT) 61,911 0.20 0 New
New United Left (NSU) 44,094 0.14 0 New
Valdostan Union (UV) 37,082 0.12 1 ±0
Friuli Movement (MF) 31,490 0.10 0 New
Others 61,547 0.19 0 ±0
Invalid/blank votes 1,645,509
Total 32,976,304 100 315 ±0
Registered voters/turnout 36,362,037 90.69
Source: Ministry of the Interior
Popular vote
DC
38.34%
PCI
31.46%
PSI
10.38%
MSI
5.68%
PSDI
4.22%
PRI
3.36%
PLI
2.21%
PR
1.32%
Others
3.03%
Seats
DC
43.81%
PCI
34.60%
PSI
10.16%
MSI
4.13%
PSDI
2.86%
PRI
1.90%
PLI
0.63%
PR
0.63%
Others
1.27%

Results by constituency

[edit]
Constituency Total
seats
Seats won
DC PCI PSI MSI PSDI PRI PLI PR Others
Piedmont 25 9 9 3 1 1 1 1
Aosta Valley 1 1
Lombardy 48 21 15 6 1 2 1 1 1
Trentino-Alto Adige 7 3 1 3
Veneto 23 14 6 2 1
Friuli-Venezia Giulia 7 4 2 1
Liguria 10 4 5 1
Emilia-Romagna 22 6 12 2 1 1
Tuscany 20 7 11 2
Umbria 7 2 4 1
Marche 8 4 4
Lazio 27 11 9 2 2 1 1 1
Abruzzo 7 4 3
Molise 2 2
Campania 29 13 8 3 3 1 1
Apulia 20 9 6 2 2 1
Basilicata 7 4 2 1
Calabria 11 5 3 2 1
Sicily 26 12 6 3 3 1 1
Sardinia 8 4 3 1
Total 315 138 109 32 13 9 6 2 2 4

Maps

[edit]
Seat distribution by constituency for the Chamber of Deputies (left) and Senate (right).

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p. 1048. ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. ^ Moro's ghost haunts political life, The Guardian, May 9, 2003
  1. ^ taking into account the Senators for life, which accounted for 7 seats at the time the election took place
  2. ^ Almirante also served as secretary from 1948 to 1950.
  3. ^ Pannella also served as president from 1967 to 1975.
[edit]