1987 Italian general election

1987 Italian general election

← 1983 14–15 June 1987 1992 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 630 seats in the Chamber of Deputies  · 315 seats in the Senate
Registered	45,692,417 (C) · 38,951,485 (S)
Turnout	40,586,573 (C) · 88.8% (0.8 pp) 34,421,230 (S) · 88.4% (0.4 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Ciriaco De Mita Alessandro Natta Bettino Craxi Party Christian Democracy Communist Party Socialist Party Leader since 5 May 1982 26 June 1984 15 July 1976 Leader's seat Benevento (C) Genoa (C) Milan (C) Seats won 234 (C) / 125 (S) 177 (C) / 101 (S) 94 (C) / 36 (S) Seat change 9 (C) / 5 (S) 21 (C) / 6 (S) 21 (C) / 2 (S) Popular vote 13,241,188 (C) 10,897,036 (S) 10,254,591 (C) 9,181,579 (S) 5,505,690 (C) 3,535,457 (S) Percentage 34.3% (C) 33.6% (S) 26.6% (C) 28.3% (S) 14.3% (C) 10.9% (S) Swing 1.4 pp (C) 1.2 pp (S) 3.3 pp (C) 2.5 pp (S) 2.9 pp (C) 0.5 pp (S)   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Giorgio Almirante Giovanni Spadolini Franco Nicolazzi Party Social Movement Republican Party Social Democratic Party Leader since 29 June 1969[a] 23 September 1979 6 October 1985 Leader's seat Rome (C) Milan (S) Rome (C) Seats won 35 (C) / 16 (S) 21 (C) / 8 (S) 17 (C) / 5 (S) Seat change 7 (C) / 2 (S) 8 (C) / 2 (S) 6 (C) / 3 (S) Popular vote 2,281,126 (C) 2,121,026 (S) 1,428,663 (C) 1,248,641 (S) 1,140,209 (C) 764,370 (S) Percentage 5.9% (C) 6.5% (S) 3.7% (C) 3.9% (S) 3.0% (C) 2.4% (S) Swing 0.9 pp (C) 0.8 pp (S) 1.4 pp (C) 0.8 pp (S) 1.1 pp (C) 1.5 pp (S)
Results of the election in the Chamber and Senate.
Prime Minister before election Amintore Fanfani Christian Democracy Prime Minister after the election Giovanni Goria Christian Democracy

The 1987 Italian general election was held in Italy on 14–15 June 1987.^[1] This election was the first Italian election in which the distance between the Christian Democrats and the Communists grew significantly instead of decreasing. Two parties that had not previously been in parliament won representation: the Greens with thirteen seats, and the Northern League with two.

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 was 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[]

In the 1980s, for the first time since 1945, two governments were led by non-Christian Democrat Premiers: the republican Giovanni Spadolini and the socialist Bettino Craxi; the Christian Democracy remained however the main force supporting the government.

With the end of the Years of Lead, the Italian Communist Party gradually increased their votes under the leadership of Enrico Berlinguer. The Socialist party (PSI), led by Craxi, became more and more critical of the communists and of the Soviet Union; Craxi himself pushed in favour of US president Ronald Reagan's positioning of Pershing II missiles in Italy, a move the communists hotly contested.

In June 1984 Berlinguer, the charismatic Communist leader, suddenly left the stage during a speech at a public meeting in Padua: he had suffered a brain haemorrhage, and died three days later. More than a million citizens attended his funeral, one of the biggest in Italy's history. Alessandro Natta was appointed as new party's secretary. The public emotion caused by Berlinguer's death resulted in an extraordinary strength for the Communist Party in the 1984 European election: for the first time in Western Europe since the French election of 1956, and for the first time ever in Italian history, a Communist party received a plurality by a democratic vote.

In 1984, the Craxi government revised the 1927 Lateran Pacts with the Vatican, which concluded the role of Catholicism as Italy's state religion.

During this period, Italy became the fifth-largest industrial nation and gained entry into the G7.

Parties and leaders[]

Results[]

Chamber of Deputies[]

← Summary of the 14 June 1987 Chamber of Deputies election results →

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/−
	Christian Democracy (DC)	13,233,620	34.31	234	+9
	Italian Communist Party (PCI)	10,250,644	26.58	177	−21
	Italian Socialist Party (PSI)	5,501,696	14.26	94	+21
	Italian Social Movement (MSI)	2,281,126	5.91	35	−7
	Italian Republican Party (PRI)	1,428,663	3.70	21	−8
	Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI)	1,140,209	2.96	17	−6
	Radical Party (PR)	987,720	2.56	13	+2
	Federation of Green Lists (FLV)	969,218	2.51	13	New
	Italian Liberal Party (PLI)	809,946	2.10	11	−5
	Proletarian Democracy (DP)	641,901	1.66	8	+1
	Venetian League–United Pensioners (LV–PU)	298,402	0.77	0	±0
	South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)	202,022	0.52	3	±0
	Lombard League (LL)	186,255	0.48	1	New
	Sardinian Action Party (PSd'Az)	169,978	0.44	2	+1
	Piedmont – Regional Autonomy	72,064	0.19	0	New
	Piedmont	61,701	0.16	0	New
	Hunting, Fishing, Environment (CPA)	55,977	0.14	0	New
	Aosta Valley (VdA)	41,707	0.11	1	±0
	Others	238,272	0.63	0	±0
Invalid/blank votes		2,015,065	–	–	–
Total		40,586,573	100	630	±0
Registered voters/turnout		45,692,417	88.83	–	–
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Senate of the Republic[]

← Summary of the 14 June 1987 Senate of the Republic election results →

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/−
	Christian Democracy (DC)	10,897,036	33.62	125	+5
	Italian Communist Party (PCI)	9,181,579	28.33	101	−6
	Italian Socialist Party (PSI)	3,535,457	10.91	36	−2
	Italian Social Movement (MSI)	2,121,026	6.54	16	−2
	Italian Republican Party (PRI)	1,248,641	3.85	8	−2
	PSI–PSDI–PR	962,215	2.97	9	±0
	Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI)	764,370	2.36	5	−3
	Italian Liberal Party (PLI)	700,330	2.16	3	–3
	Federation of Green Lists (FLV)	634,182	1.96	1	New
	Radical Party (PR)	572,461	1.77	3	+2
	Proletarian Democracy (DP)	493,667	1.52	1	+1
	Venetian League–United Pensioners (LV–PU)	298,552	0.92	0	−1
	South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)	171,539	0.53	2	−1
	Lombard League (LL)	137,276	0.42	1	New
	Sardinian Action Party (PSd'Az)	124,266	0.38	1	±0
	Lay-Socialist Alliance	84,883	0.26	1	New
	Piedmont – Regional Autonomy	60,742	0.19	0	New
	PSI–PSDI–PR–Greens	58,501	0.18	1	±0
	Pensioners Popular Alliance	51,790	0.16	0	New
	Piedmont	51,340	0.16	0	New
	Molisean Democratic Alliance	49,297	0.15	0	New
	Hunting, Fishing, Environment (CPA)	41,135	0.13	0	New
	Aosta Valley (VdA)	35,830	0.11	1	±0
	Others	137,746	0.43	0	±0
Invalid/blank votes		2,007,369	–	–	–
Total		34,421,230	100	315	±0
Registered voters/turnout		38,951,485	88.37	–	–
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Maps[]

References[]