1979 Italian general election

none 1979 Italian general election Italy legislative no 1976 Italian general election 1976 Legislature VII of Italy 1983 Italian general election 1983 Legislature VIII of Italy All 630 seats in the Chamber of Deputies316 seats needed for a majorityAll 315 elective seats in the Senate162 seats needed for a majoritytaking into account the Senators for life, which accounted for 7 seats at the time the election took place 3 June 1979 42,203,354 (C Chamber of Deputies)36,362,037 (S Senate) 38,242,918 (C Chamber of Deputies)90.6% (2.8 pp) 32,976,304 (S Senate)90.7% (2.7 pp) Benigno Zaccagnini.jpg 120 120 160 Benigno Zaccagnini 21 July 1975 Christian Democracy (Italy) Bologna (C Chamber of Deputies) 262 (C Chamber of Deputies) / 138 (S Senate) 1 (C Chamber of Deputies) / 3 (S Senate) 14,046,290 (C Chamber of Deputies) 12,010,716 (S Senate) 38.3% (C Chamber of Deputies) 38.3% (S Senate) 0.4 pp (C Chamber of Deputies) 0.5 pp (S Senate) Enrico Berlinguer 1976.jpg 120 120 160 Enrico Berlinguer 17 March 1972 Italian Communist Party Rome (C Chamber of Deputies) 201 (C Chamber of Deputies) / 109 (S Senate) 26 (C Chamber of Deputies) / 7 (S Senate) 11,139,231 (C Chamber of Deputies) 9,855,951 (S Senate) 30.4% (C Chamber of Deputies) 31.5% (S Senate) 4.0 pp (C Chamber of Deputies) 2.3 pp (S Senate) Craxi_1972.jpg 120 120 160 Bettino Craxi 15 July 1976 Italian Socialist Party Milan (C Chamber of Deputies) 62 (C Chamber of Deputies) / 32 (S Senate) 5 (C Chamber of Deputies) / 3 (S Senate) 3,630,052 (C Chamber of Deputies) 3,252,410 (S Senate) 9.9% (C Chamber of Deputies) 10.4% (S Senate) 0.3 pp (C Chamber of Deputies) 0.2 pp (S Senate) Giorgio Almirante 1979.jpg 120 120 160 Giorgio Almirante 29 June 1969Almirante also served as secretary from 1948 to 1950. Italian Social Movement Rome (C Chamber of Deputies) 30 (C Chamber of Deputies) / 13 (S Senate) 5 (C Chamber of Deputies) / 2 (S Senate) 1,930,639 (C Chamber of Deputies) 1,780,950 (S Senate) 5.3% (C Chamber of Deputies)5.7% (S Senate) 0.8 pp (C Chamber of Deputies)0.9 pp (S Senate) Pietro Longo IX Legislatura.jpg 120 120 160 Pietro Longo 20 October 1978 Italian Democratic Socialist Party Rome (C Chamber of Deputies) 20 (C Chamber of Deputies) / 9 (S Senate) 5 (C Chamber of Deputies) / 3 (S Senate) 1,407,535 (C Chamber of Deputies) 1,320,729 (S Senate) 3.8% (C Chamber of Deputies) 4.2% (S Senate) 0.4 pp (C Chamber of Deputies)1.1 pp (S Senate) Oddo Biasini.jpg 120 120 160 Oddo Biasini 2 March 1975 Italian Republican Party Bologna (C Chamber of Deputies) 16 (C Chamber of Deputies) / 6 (S Senate) 2 (C Chamber of Deputies) / 0 (S Senate) 1,110,209 (C Chamber of Deputies) 1,053,251 (S Senate) 3.0% (C Chamber of Deputies) 3.47% (S Senate) 0.1 pp (C Chamber of Deputies)0.7 pp (S Senate) 450px Results of the election in the Chamber and Senate. Prime Minister Prime Minister after the election Giulio Andreotti Christian Democracy (Italy) Francesco Cossiga Christian Democracy (Italy) The 1979 Italian general election was held in Italy on 3 June 1979.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p. 1048. 978-3-8329-5609-7 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 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 thumb|left|160px|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. 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 Party Ideology LeaderSeats in 1976C Chamber of DeputiesS Senate of the RepublicTotal 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) Liberalism Oddo Biasini 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 FoaNew Results 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 + ← Summary of the 3 June 1979 Chamber of Deputies election results → center|300pxPartyVotes%Seats+/−Christian Democracy (DC)14,046,29038.30262±0Italian Communist Party (PCI)11,139,23130.38201−26Italian Socialist Party (PSI)3,596,8029.8162+5Italian Social Movement (MSI)1,930,6395.2630−5Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI)1,407,5353.8420+5Radical Party (PR)1,264,8703.4518+14Italian Republican Party1,110,2093.0316+2Italian Liberal Party (PLI)712,6461.949+4Proletarian Unity Party (PdUP)502,2471.376±0New United Left (NSU)294,4620.800NewNational Democracy (DN)229,2050.630NewSouth Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)204,8990.564+1List for Trieste (LpT)65,5050.181NewFriuli Movement (MF)35,2540.100NewValdostan Union (UV)33,2500.091+1Others98,2640.300±0Invalid/blank votes1,571,610–––Total38,242,918100630±0Registered voters/turnout42,203,35490.62––Source: Ministry of the Interior Popular vote #ddd 550px 500px DC Christian Democracy (Italy) 38.30 PCI Italian Communist Party 30.38 PSI Italian Socialist Party 9.81 MSI Italian Social Movement 5.26 PSDI Italian Democratic Socialist Party 3.84 PR Radical Party (Italy) 3.45 PRI Italian Republican Party 3.03 PLI Italian Liberal Party 1.94 PdUP red 1.37 Others Other 2.62 Seats #ddd 550px 500px DC Christian Democracy (Italy) 41.59 PCI Italian Communist Party 31.90 PSI Italian Socialist Party 9.84 MSI Italian Social Movement 4.76 PSDI Italian Democratic Socialist Party 3.17 PR Radical Party (Italy) 2.86 PRI Italian Republican Party 2.54 PLI Italian Liberal Party 1.43 PdUP red 0.95 Others Other 0.95 Results by constituency ConstituencyTotalseatsSeats wonDCPCIPSIMSIPSDIPRPRIPLIPdUPOthersTurin3912134122221Cuneo15741111Genoa238831111Milan5218176222221Como209521111Brescia2312521111Mantua8431Trentino104114Verona29166211111Venice1785211Udine116311Bologna2771321112Parma1961021Florence15591Pisa14572Siena9351Ancona1777111Perugia10451Rome5420165423211L'Aquila147511Campobasso431Naples381611341111Benevento18104211Bari231072211Lecce189522Potenza7421Catanzaro231063211Catania2712633111Palermo2512532111Cagliari1776211Aosta Valley11Trieste3111Total6302622016230201816966 Senate of the Republic + ← Summary of the 3 June 1979 Senate of the Republic election results → center|300pxPartyVotes%Seats+/−Christian Democracy (DC)12,010,71638.34138+3Italian Communist Party (PCI)9,855,95131.46109−7Italian Socialist Party (PSI)3,252,41010.3832+3Italian Social Movement (MSI)1,780,9505.6813−2Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI)1,320,7294.229+3Italian Republican Party (PRI)1,053,2513.366±0Italian Liberal Party (PLI)691,7182.212±0Radical Party (PR)413,4441.322+2Radical Party–New United Left (PR–NSU)365,9541.170NewNational Democracy (DN)176,9660.560NewSouth Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)172,5820.553+1List for Trieste (LpT)61,9110.200NewNew United Left (NSU)44,0940.140NewValdostan Union (UV)37,0820.121±0Friuli Movement (MF)31,4900.100NewOthers61,5470.190±0Invalid/blank votes1,645,509–––Total32,976,304100315±0Registered voters/turnout36,362,03790.69––Source: Ministry of the Interior Popular vote #ddd 550px 500px DC Christian Democracy (Italy) 38.34 PCI Italian Communist Party 31.46 PSI Italian Socialist Party 10.38 MSI Italian Social Movement 5.68 PSDI Italian Democratic Socialist Party 4.22 PRI Italian Republican Party 3.36 PLI Italian Liberal Party 2.21 PR Radical Party (Italy) 1.32 Others Other 3.03 Seats #ddd 550px 500px DC Christian Democracy (Italy) 43.81 PCI Italian Communist Party 34.60 PSI Italian Socialist Party 10.16 MSI Italian Social Movement 4.13 PSDI Italian Democratic Socialist Party 2.86 PRI Italian Republican Party 1.90 PLI Italian Liberal Party 0.63 PR Radical Party (Italy) 0.63 Others Other 1.27 Results by constituency ConstituencyTotalseatsSeats wonDCPCIPSIMSIPSDIPRIPLIPROthersPiedmont259931111Aosta Valley11Lombardy482115612111Trentino-Alto Adige7313Veneto2314621Friuli-Venezia Giulia7421Liguria10451Emilia-Romagna22612211Tuscany207112Umbria7241Marche844Lazio2711922111Abruzzo743Molise22Campania291383311Apulia2096221Basilicata7421Calabria115321Sicily261263311Sardinia8431Total315138109321396224 Maps 550px|centerSeat distribution by constituency for the Chamber of Deputies (left) and Senate (right). References 1979 General election Italy