# 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).

## 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 |
| EPP – ED | 24 / 78 | Forza Italia | 20 |
| EPP – ED | 24 / 78 | Union of the Centre | 2 |
| EPP – ED | 24 / 78 | Pensioners' Party | 1 |
| EPP – ED | 24 / 78 | South Tyrolean People's Party | 1 |
| Socialist Group | 21 / 78 |
| Socialist Group | 21 / 78 | Democratic Party (former DS) | 12 |
| Socialist Group | 21 / 78 | Socialist Party | 4 |
| Socialist Group | 21 / 78 | Democratic Left | 3 |
| Socialist Group | 21 / 78 | Independents | 2 |
| UEN | 13 / 78 |
| UEN | 13 / 78 | National Alliance | 8 |
| UEN | 13 / 78 | Northern League | 3 |
| UEN | 13 / 78 | The Right | 1 |
| UEN | 13 / 78 | Independent | 1 |
| ALDE | 7 / 78 |
| ALDE | 7 / 78 | Democratic Party (former DL) | 4 |
| ALDE | 7 / 78 | Bonino List | 2 |
| ALDE | 7 / 78 | Party of the South | 1 |
| GUE–NGL | 7 / 78 |
| GUE–NGL | 7 / 78 | Communist Refoundation Party | 5 |
| GUE–NGL | 7 / 78 | Party of Italian Communists | 2 |
| Non-Inscrits | 3 / 78 |
| Non-Inscrits | 3 / 78 | Tricolour Flame | 1 |
| Non-Inscrits | 3 / 78 | New Force | 1 |
| Non-Inscrits | 3 / 78 | Independent | 1 |
| Greens – EFA | 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 | 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 |
* ↑ 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 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 | Party | Party | EP group | Main candidate | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– |
| | | The People of Freedom (PdL) | EPP | Silvio Berlusconi | 10,797,296 | 35.26 | 1.35 | 29 / 72 | 4 |
| | | Aosta Valley (VdA) | – | | 32,913 | 0.11 | – | 0 / 72 | 0 |
| | Total | Total | EPP | | 10,830,209 | 35.37 | 1.37 | 29 / 72 | 4 |
| | | Democratic Party (PD) | S&D | David Sassoli | 7,999,476 | 26.12 | 4.96 | 21 / 72 | 3 |
| | | South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP) | EPP | Herbert Dorfmann | 143,509 | 0.47 | 0.02 | 1 / 72 | 0 |
| | Total | Total | Mixed | | 8,142,985 | 26.59 | 4.94 | 22 / 72 | 3 |
| | Northern League (LN) | Northern League (LN) | EFD | Umberto Bossi | 3,126,181 | 10.21 | 5.25 | 9 / 72 | 5 |
| | | Italy of Values (IdV) | ALDE | Luigi de Magistris | 2,450,643 | 8.00 | 5.86 | 7 / 72 | 5 |
| | | Autonomy Liberty Democracy (ALD) | – | | 27,199 | 0.09 | New | 0 / 72 | New |
| | Total | Total | ALDE | | 2,477,842 | 8.09 | 5.95 | 7 / 72 | 5 |
| | Union of the Centre (UdC) | Union of the Centre (UdC) | EPP | Ciriaco De Mita | 1,995,021 | 6.51 | 0.62 | 5 / 72 | 0 |
| | Communist Refoundation – Italian Communists (PRC–PdCI) | Communist Refoundation – Italian Communists (PRC–PdCI) | – | | 1,037,862 | 3.39 | 5.09 | 0 / 72 | 7 |
| | Left and Freedom (SeL) | Left and Freedom (SeL) | – | | 957,822 | 3.13 | – | 0 / 72 | 2 |
| | Bonino-Pannella List (LBP) | Bonino-Pannella List (LBP) | – | | 743,284 | 2.43 | 0.18 | 0 / 72 | 2 |
| | The Autonomy | The Autonomy | – | | 681,290 | 2.22 | – | 0 / 72 | 1 |
| | Tricolour Flame (FT) | Tricolour Flame (FT) | – | | 246,403 | 0.80 | 0.07 | 0 / 72 | 1 |
| | Workers' Communist Party (PCL) | Workers' Communist Party (PCL) | – | | 166,531 | 0.54 | New | 0 / 72 | New |
| | New Force (FN) | New Force (FN) | – | | 147,343 | 0.48 | – | 0 / 72 | 0 |
| | Liberal Democrats – MAIE (LD–MAIE) | Liberal Democrats – MAIE (LD–MAIE) | – | | 71,067 | 0.23 | New | 0 / 72 | New |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | Valid votes | Valid votes | Valid votes | 30,623,840 | 92.79 | | | |
| Blank and Invalid votes | Blank and Invalid votes | Blank and Invalid votes | Blank and Invalid votes | Blank and Invalid votes | 2,125,164 | 7.21 | | | |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | 32,749,004 | 100.00 | — | 0 / 72 | 6 |
| Electorate and voter turnout | Electorate and voter turnout | Electorate and voter turnout | Electorate and voter turnout | 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% :