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1983 Italian general election

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Field	Value
election_name	1983 Italian general election
country	Italy
type	legislative
ongoing	no
previous_election	1979 Italian general election
previous_year	1979
outgoing_members	Legislature VIII of Italy
next_election	1987 Italian general election
next_year	1987
elected_members	Legislature IX of Italy
seats_for_election	All 630 seats in the Chamber of Deputies316 seats needed for a majorityAll 315 elective seats in the Senate162 seats needed for a majority
election_date	26 June 1983
registered	44,526,357 (C)37,603,817 (S)
turnout	39,188,182 (C)88.0% (2.6 pp)
33,402,139 (S)88.8% (1.9 pp)
image1	[[File:Ciriaco_De_Mita_(IX).jpg	160x160px]]
leader1	Ciriaco De Mita
party1	Christian Democracy (Italy)
leaders_seat1	Benevento (C)
leader_since1	5 May 1982
seats1	225 (C) / 120 (S)
seat_change1	37 (C) / 18 (S)
popular_vote1	12,153,081 (C)
10,077,204 (S)
percentage1	32.9% (C)
32.4% (S)
swing1	5.4 pp (C)
5.9 pp (S)
image2	[[File:Enrico Berlinguer.jpg	160x160px]]
leader2	Enrico Berlinguer
leader_since2	17 March 1972
party2	Italian Communist Party
leaders_seat2	Rome (C)
seats2	198 (C) / 107 (S)
seat_change2	3 (C) / 2 (S)
popular_vote2	11,032,318 (C)
9,577,071 (S)
percentage2	29.9% (C)
30.8% (S)
swing2	0.5 pp (C)
0.7 pp (S)
image3
leader3	Bettino Craxi
leader_since3	15 July 1976
party3	Italian Socialist Party
leaders_seat3	Milan (C)
seats3	73 (C) / 38 (S)
seat_change3	11 (C) / 6 (S)
popular_vote3	4,223,362 (C)
3,539,593 (S)
percentage3	11.4% (C)
11.4% (S)
swing3	1.5 pp (C)
1.0 pp (S)
image4
leader4	Giorgio Almirante
leader_since4	29 June 1969
party4	Italian Social Movement
leaders_seat4	Rome (C)
seats4	42 (C) / 18 (S)
seat_change4	12 (C) / 5 (S)
popular_vote4	2,511,487 (C)
2,283,524 (S)
percentage4	6.8% (C)
7.4% (S)
swing4	1.6 pp (C)
1.7 pp (S)
image5
leader5	Giovanni Spadolini
leader_since5	23 September 1979
party5	Italian Republican Party
leaders_seat5	Milan (S)
seats5	29 (C) / 10 (S)
seat_change5	13 (C) / 4 (S)
popular_vote5	1,874,512 (C)
1,452,279 (S)
percentage5	5.1% (C)
4.7% (S)
swing5	2.1 pp (C)
1.3 pp (S)
image6
leader6	Pietro Longo
leader_since6	20 October 1978
party6	Italian Democratic Socialist Party
leaders_seat6	Rome (C)
seats6	23 (C) / 8 (S)
seat_change6	3 (C) / 1 (S)
popular_vote6	1,508,234 (C)
1,184,936 (S)
percentage6	4.1% (C)
3.8% (S)
swing6	0.3 pp (C)
0.4 pp (S)
map	{{Switcher
title	Prime Minister
posttitle	Prime Minister after the election
before_election	Amintore Fanfani
before_party	Christian Democracy (Italy)
after_election	Bettino Craxi
after_party	Italian Socialist Party

33,402,139 (S)88.8% (1.9 pp)

10,077,204 (S) 32.4% (S) 5.9 pp (S)

9,577,071 (S) 30.8% (S) 0.7 pp (S)

3,539,593 (S) 11.4% (S) 1.0 pp (S)

2,283,524 (S) 7.4% (S) 1.7 pp (S)

1,452,279 (S) 4.7% (S) 1.3 pp (S)

1,184,936 (S) 3.8% (S) 0.4 pp (S)

| [[File:1983 Italian general election - Results.svg|450px]] | Results of the election in the Chamber and Senate. | [[File:1983 Italian general election - Seat Distribution.svg|450px]] | Seat distribution for the Chamber of Deputies (left) and Senate (right).

The 1983 Italian general election was held in Italy on 26 June 1983. The Pentapartito formula, the governative alliance between five centrist parties, caused unexpected problems to Christian Democracy. The alliance was fixed and universal, extended both to the national government and to the local administrations. Considering that the election result did no longer depend on the strength of the DC, but the strength of the entire Pentapartito, centrist electors began to look at the Christian Democratic vote as not necessary to prevent a Communist success. Moreover, voting for one of the four minor parties of the alliance was seen as a form of moderate protest against the government without giving advantages to the PCI. Other minor effects of this election were a reduction of the referendarian Radical Party and the appearance of some regional forces.

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

On 2 August 1980, a bomb killed 85 people and wounded more than 200 in Bologna. Known as the Bologna massacre, the blast destroyed a large portion of the city's railway station. This was found to be a fascist bombing, mainly organized by the NAR, who had ties with the Roman criminal organization Banda della Magliana. In the following days the central square of Bologna, Piazza Maggiore, hosted large-scale demonstrations of indignation and protest among the population, in which were not spared harsh criticism and protests addressed to government representatives, who attended the funerals of the victims celebrated in the San Petronio Basilica on 6 August.

In 1981 at a meeting of the Congress of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), was officially launched a centrist political alliance called Pentapartito, when the Christian Democrat Arnaldo Forlani and Socialist Secretary Bettino Craxi signed an agreement with the "blessing" of Giulio Andreotti. Because the agreement was signed in a trailer, it was called the "pact of the camper." The pact was also called "CAF" for the initials of the signers, Craxi-Andreotti-Forlani. With this agreement, the DC party recognized the equal dignity of the so-called "secular parties" of the majority (i.e., the Socialists, Social Democrats, Liberals and Republicans) and also guaranteed an alternation of government (in fact, Giovanni Spadolini of the PRI and Bettino Craxi of the PSI became the first non-Christian Democrats to hold the Presidency of the Council). With the birth of the Pentapartito, the possibility of the growth of the majority toward the Italian Communist Party (PCI) was finally dismissed. The Christian Democrats remained the leaders of the coalition, and managed several times to prevent representatives of the secular parties from becoming President of the Council.

Parties and leaders

Party	Leader	Seats in 1979	C
Christian Democracy (Italy)}}"	Christian Democracy (DC)	Christian democracy	Ciriaco De Mita
Italian Communist Party}}"	Italian Communist Party (PCI)	Eurocommunism	Enrico Berlinguer
Italian Socialist Party}}"	Italian Socialist Party (PSI)	Social democracy	Bettino Craxi
Italian Social Movement}}"	Italian Social Movement (MSI)	Neo-fascism	Giorgio Almirante
Italian Democratic Socialist Party}}"	Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI)	Social democracy	Pietro Longo
Italian Republican Party}}"	Italian Republican Party (PRI)	Republicanism	Giovanni Spadolini
Radical Party (Italy)}}"	Radical Party (PR)	Radicalism	Marco Pannella
Italian Liberal Party}}"	Italian Liberal Party (PLI)	Liberalism	Valerio Zanone
Proletarian Democracy}}"	Proletarian Democracy (DP)	Trotskyism	Mario Capanna

Results

The DC respected the pact of an alternance of leadership between the parties of the alliance and accepted the Socialist secretary, Bettino Craxi, as the new Prime Minister of Italy. The Christian Democrats hoped that their minor responsibility could drive away some popular discontent from their party. The Italian Socialist Party so arrived to the highest office of the government for the first time in history. Differently from the DC, which had an oligarchic structure, the PSI was strongly ruled by its secretary, so the Craxi's premiership resulted the longest one without any political crisis in post-war Italy, despite some international tensions with the United States about the Palestine Liberation Organization. Craxi formed a renewed government in 1986, but could not survive in 1987 to a dispute with DC's secretary Ciriaco De Mita, who was searching and effectively obtained an early national election, ruled by an electoral Christian Democratic government with old Amintore Fanfani as PM.

Chamber of Deputies

Results by constituency

Constituency	Total
seats	Seats won	DC	PCI	PSI	MSI	PRI	PSDI	PLI	PR	DP	Others	Christian Democracy (Italy)}};"	Italian Communist Party}};"	Italian Socialist Party}};"	Italian Social Movement}};;"	Italian Republican Party}};;"	Italian Democratic Socialist Party}};"	Italian Liberal Party}};;"	Radical Party (Italy)}};;"	Proletarian Democracy}};;"	Others}};;"	Turin	36	Cuneo	14	Genoa	20	Milan	51	Como	20	Brescia	23	Mantua	7	Trentino	8	Verona	30	Venice	16	Udine	14	Bologna	26	Parma	20	Florence	16	Pisa	15	Siena	9	Ancona	17	Perugia	10	Rome	53	L'Aquila	14	Campobasso	4	Naples	42	Benevento	18	Bari	25	Lecce	20	Potenza	7	Catanzaro	23	Catania	27	Palermo	25	Cagliari	17	Aosta Valley	1	Trieste	2	Total	630	225	198	73	42	29	23	16	11	7	6
9	12	4	2	3	2	2	1	1
6	4	1		1	1	1
6	8	2	1	1		1	1
14	16	6	3	4	2	2	2	2
8	5	2	1	1	1	1	1
10	5	2	1	1	1	1	1	1
3	3	1
3	1	1							3
14	6	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
7	4	2	1	1	1
6	3	2	1	1	1
5	13	2	1	2	1	1	1
5	10	2	1	1	1
4	9	2		1
4	7	2	1	1
3	5	1
6	7	2	1	1
3	5	1	1
17	16	5	5	3	2	2	2	1
7	5	1	1
3	1
14	11	5	6	1	2	1	1	1
9	4	3	1		1
9	6	4	3	1	1	1
8	5	3	2	1	1
4	2	1
9	6	4	2	1	1
11	6	4	3	1	1	1
11	6	3	2	1	1	1
6	6	2	1		1				1
									1
1	1

Senate of the Republic

Results by constituency

Constituency	Total
seats	Seats won	DC	PCI	PSI	MSI	PRI	PSDI	PLI	PR	Others	Christian Democracy (Italy)}};"	Italian Communist Party}};"	Italian Socialist Party}};"	Italian Social Movement}};"	Italian Republican Party}};;"	Italian Democratic Socialist Party}};;"	Italian Liberal Party}};;"	Radical Party (Italy)}};;"	Others}};;"	Piedmont	24	Aosta Valley	1	Lombardy	48	Trentino-Alto Adige	7	Veneto	23	Friuli-Venezia Giulia	7	Liguria	10	Emilia-Romagna	21	Tuscany	19	Umbria	7	Marche	8	Lazio	27	Abruzzo	7	Molise	2	Campania	29	Apulia	20	Basilicata	7	Calabria	11	Sicily	26	Sardinia	8	Total	315	120	107	38	18	10	8	6	1	7
7	8	3	1	2	1	2
								1
17	15	6	2	3	2	2	1
3	1							3
12	5	2	1	1	1			1
4	2	1
4	5	1
6	12	2		1
6	10	2						1
2	4	1
3	4	1
9	9	3	3	1	1	1
4	2	1
2
11	9	4	4	1	1
8	6	3	3		1
4	2	1
4	4	2	1
10	6	4	3	1	1	1
4	3	1						1

References

[[Dieter Nohlen]] & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1048 {{ISBN. 978-3-8329-5609-7

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