2019 European Parliament election in Italy

The 2019 European Parliament election in Italy were held on 26 May 2019, electing members of the 9th Italian delegation to the European Parliament as part of the European elections held across the European Union.

Background

In 2014, the governing Democratic Party (PD) of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi won the election with 40.8% of the vote and 31 seats, followed by the Five Star Movement (M5S) with 21.2% and 17 seats and Forza Italia (FI) with 16.8% and 13 seats. As a result, the PD was the second largest national party in the European Parliament by number of seats after the German CDU/CSU and the largest among the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D). The PD's score was also the best result for an Italian party in a nationwide election since the 1958 Italian general election, when Christian Democracy (DC) won 42.4% of the vote. After less than three years from the 2014 electoral landslide, Renzi was forced to resign after the defeat in the 2016 Italian constitutional referendum and his foreign affairs minister Paolo Gentiloni was appointed new head of government in December 2016.

The 2018 Italian general election was characterized by a strong showing of populist parties. The centre-right coalition, led by Matteo Salvini's right-wing populist League (Lega), emerged with a plurality of seats in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate while the anti-establishment M5S led by Luigi Di Maio became the party with the largest number of votes, and Renzi's centre-left coalition came only third, with the worst electoral result of its history. As no political group or party won an outright majority, it resulted in a hung parliament. After three months of negotiation, a government was finally formed on 1 June by the M5S and the League, with the M5S-linked independent Giuseppe Conte as Prime Minister of Italy and Di Maio and Salvini Deputy Prime Ministers of Italy.

On the centre-right side, FI welcomed in its lists candidates of the Union of the Centre (UdC) and several alike minor parties while Brothers of Italy (FdI) formed a partnership with Direction Italy (DI) and minor groups. In the 2019 PD leadership election held in March, Nicola Zingaretti was elected secretary of the PD. In April, Zingaretti presented a special logo for the election, including a large reference to "We Are Europeans", a manifesto launched by Carlo Calenda, and the symbol of the Party of European Socialists (PES). Additionally, the PD tried to forge an alliance with minor parties, including Article One (Art.1).

March and April registered more developments on the centre-left. Under the new leadership of Benedetto Della Vedova, More Europe (+E) formed a joint list with Italia in Comune (IiC), the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), the Italian Republican Party (PRI), the Italian section of the European Democratic Party (EDP), the Liberal Democratic Alliance for Italy (ALI), and minor parties; Italian Left (SI), the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC), minor parties and individual splinters from the disbanded Free and Equal (LeU) formed The Left (LS), a joint list inspired by the Party of the European Left (PEL); and the Federation of the Greens (FdV), Possible (Pos) and Green Italia (GI) formed Green Europe (EV) under the banner of the European Green Party (EGP).

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 Italian 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 to the 2009 European Parliament election, the Italian Parliament introduced a national electoral threshold of 4%. An exception was granted for parties representing some linguistic minorities as such lists can be connected with one of the major parties (apparentment), 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.

Constituencies

Seats are allocated to party lists on a national basis using an electoral quota, with the residue given to the lists with the largest excess over whole quotas. An electoral quota is then calculated for each list and used to allocate seats to each list in each of the five electoral regions.

Electoral RegionAdministrative RegionsSeatsNorth-WestAosta Valley, Liguria, Lombardy, Piedmont20North-EastEmilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Veneto15CentralLatium, Marche, Tuscany, Umbria15SouthernAbruzzo, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise18IslandsSardinia, Sicily8

Main parties and leaders Outgoing MEPs

The table shows the detailed composition of the Italian seats at the European Parliament before 26 May 2019. EP groupSeatsPartySeatsMEPsProgressive Alliance of Socialists and DemocratsDemocratic Party26 Article One3 Italian Left1 Possible1 European People's PartyForza Italia 10 Union of the Centre 1 South Tyrolean People's Party 1 Europe of Freedom and Direct DemocracyFive Star Movement11 Italia in Comune1 Independents2 Europe of Nations and FreedomLeague 6 European Conservatives and ReformistsBrothers of Italy3 Direction Italy2 European United Left–Nordic Green LeftThe Other Europe2 Independents1 Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for EuropeMore Europe1 Greens–European Free AllianceFederation of the Greens1 Total73

Retiring incumbents The following MEPs are not seeking re-election: Constituency Departing MEPPartyEP Group First elected Terms Date announced Italian Islands Renato Soru 2014 1 North-West Italy Renata Briano 2014 1 Central Italy Silvia Costa 2009 2 North-East Italy Damiano Zoffoli 2015 1 North-East Italy Elly Schlein 2014 1

Summary of parties This is a list of the parties that took part to the election. PartyMain ideologyLeader(s)Europeanparty2014 resultOutgoing MEPs Votes (%) SeatsDemocratic Party (PD)Social democracyNicola ZingarettiPES 40.8%Five Star Movement (M5S)PopulismLuigi Di MaioNone 21.5%Forza Italia (FI)Liberal conservatismSilvio BerlusconiEPP 16.8%League (Lega)Right-wing populismMatteo SalviniMENF 6.2%Brothers of Italy (FdI)National conservatismGiorgia MeloniACRE 3.7%The Left (LS)Democratic socialismNicola FratoianniMaurizio AcerboPEL 4.0%Green Europe (EV)Green politicsSeveral leadersEGP 0.9%South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)RegionalismPhilipp AchammerEPP 0.5%More Europe (+E)LiberalismBenedetto Della VedovaALDE Did not contestCommunist Party (PC)CommunismMarco RizzoINITIATIVE Did not contestAnimalist Party (PA)Animal rightsCristiano CerielloAPEU Did not contestThe People of the Family – Popular Alternative (PdF–AP)Social conservatism Mario AdinolfiEPP Did not contestCasaPound – United Right (CP–DU)Neo-fascismSimone Di Stefano Massimiliano PaneroAENM Did not contestPopulars for Italy (PpI)Christian democracyMario MauroEPP Did not contestPirate Party (PP)Pirate politicsNonePPEU Did not contestNew Force (FN)Neo-fascismRoberto FioreAPF Did not contestAutonomies for Europe (ApE)RegionalismSeveral leadersEFA Did not contest

Top candidates In the following table, the top candidates of each party/list in the five constituencies are listed. PartyNorth-WestNorth-EastCentreSouthIslandsSource Democratic Party Giuliano Pisapia Carlo Calenda Simona Bonafé Franco Roberti Caterina Chinnici Five Star Movement Sabrina Pignedoli Maria Angela Danzì Daniela Rondinelli Chiara Maria Gemma Alessandra Todde Forza ItaliaSilvio Berlusconi Antonio TajaniSilvio Berlusconi LeagueMatteo Salvini Brothers of ItalyGiorgia Meloni The Left Eleonora Cirant Silvia Prodi Marilena Grassadonia Eleonora Forenza Corradino Mineo Green Europe Elena Grandi Silvia Zamboni Annalisa Corrado Eliana Baldo Nadia Spallitta More Europe Benedetto Della Vedova Federico Pizzarotti Emma Bonino Raimondo Pasquino Fabrizio Ferrandelli

Slogans PartyOriginal sloganEnglish translationSourceDemocratic PartyUna nuova Europa, un'Italia più forte"A New Europe, a Stronger Italy"Five Star MovementContinuare per cambiare"Continuing for changing"Forza ItaliaPer cambiare l'Europa"To Change Europe"LeaguePrima l'Italia"Italy First"Brothers of ItalyIn Europa per cambiare tutto"In Europe to Change Everything"The LeftNoi con te"Us with You"Green EuropeTocca a noi"It Is Our Turn"More EuropeUn'altra Italia c'è"There Is Another Italy"

Opinion polling

Poll results are listed according to the date of publication of the survey. Detailed data are usually published in the official website of the Italian government. The publication of opinion polls during the last 15 days of the electoral campaign is forbidden by Italian law.

Polls after April 2019 Date Polling firm Sample size PD M5S FI Lega LS FdI EV +E Others Lead 8–9 May Tecnè 1,000 21.5 22.5 10.5 31.0 3.0 5.0 3.5 3.0 8.5 8–9 May Euromedia 800 21.9 21.5 10.1 29.6 2.0 5.3 1.3 3.5 4.8 7.7 8–9 May Demopolis 2,000 22.2 23.0 8.4 31.0 2.8 5.5 3.2 3.9 8.0 7–9 May Scenari Politici – Winpoll 1,500 22.1 22.7 7.8 33.8 2.1 5.8 1.3 2.4 2.0 11.1 6–9 May Ixè 1,000 20.1 20.5 9.6 30.5 3.4 5.2 1.8 4.0 4.9 10.0 5–9 May Termometro Politico 6,000 21.8 23.0 9.5 30.6 1.9 5.8 0.8 2.8 4.6 7.6 8 May Piepoli 503 21.0 22.0 10.0 30.5 2.0 5.0 1.0 3.5 5.0 8.5 7–8 May Index 800 21.1 22.3 9.2 32.4 2.7 5.0 1.7 3.0 2.6 10.1 6–8 May SWG 1,500 22.5 22.7 9.4 30.5 2.7 4.7 1.7 2.6 3.2 7.8 6–8 May Ipsos 1,000 20.5 24.9 7.8 30.9 2.1 5.7 1.8 3.2 3.1 6.0 6–8 May Bidimedia 1,455 21.2 22.4 9.0 32.2 2.5 4.7 1.7 3.0 3.3 9.8 6–8 May Demos & Pi 1,007 20.4 22.6 9.5 32.2 3.1 4.7 4.1 3.4 9.6 7 May EMG 1,642 21.2 23.5 10.3 32.2 2.6 5.0 2.8 2.4 8.7 7 May Noto – 21.0 21.0 9.0 32.0 2.0 5.5 1.0 3.5 5.0 11.0 5–7 May Demopolis 1,500 22.0 23.0 8.5 31.0 2.8 5.6 3.0 4.1 8.0 4–6 May Tecnè 1,509 21.0 22.0 10.5 31.0 3.5 5.0 3.5 3.5 9.0 30 Apr–6 May SWG 1,500 22.2 22.7 9.1 30.7 2.8 4.6 1.8 2.7 3.4 8.0 24 Apr–6 May CISE 1,000 21.6 23.1 11.7 27.3 1.0 4.6 4.2 6.5 4.3 2–3 May Quorum – YouTrend 1,000 21.4 22.2 9.5 32.1 3.2 5.3 2.3 4.0 9.9 2 May Piepoli – 20.5 22.0 10.0 31.0 2.0 5.5 1.0 3.5 4.5 9.0 2 May Euromedia 800 20.3 20.6 10.3 32.4 1.5 5.3 1.4 3.8 4.4 11.8 30 Apr Noto – 22.0 20.0 8.5 32.0 2.5 6.0 1.5 3.0 4.5 10.0 25–30 Apr Termometro Politico 2,000 21.8 23.5 9.2 31.1 2.0 5.7 0.8 2.8 3.1 7.6 28–29 Apr Tecnè 1,000 21.4 21.5 11.2 32.2 2.8 4.9 3.1 2.9 10.7 24–29 Apr SWG 1,500 22.5 21.8 8.8 31.6 3.1 5.0 1.5 2.9 2.8 9.1 27 Apr EMG 1,536 21.9 22.9 10.1 32.2 2.5 5.1 3.0 2.3 9.3 23 Apr EMG 1,525 22.6 23.1 10.2 31.3 2.8 5.4 3.0 1.6 8.2 23 Apr Noto – 21.0 20.5 8.5 33.5 2.0 6.0 1.0 3.0 4.5 12.5 22–23 Apr Demopolis 1,500 21.0 22.0 8.0 33.0 5.0 11.0 11.0 18–23 Apr Scenari Politici – Winpoll 1,500 20.5 20.1 8.7 36.4 1.9 5.4 1.7 3.1 2.2 15.9 17–23 Apr SWG 1,500 22.0 22.3 8.4 32.3 3.4 4.8 1.6 3.0 2.2 10.0 19–22 Apr Termometro Politico 1,000 22.0 23.5 9.1 31.5 2.1 5.7 1.0 2.9 2.2 8.0 20 Apr Ipsos – 18.7 22.3 8.7 36.9 2.1 4.6 1.3 3.0 2.4 14.6 16 Apr EMG 1,794 21.8 22.6 9.5 32.1 2.9 4.9 2.9 3.3 9.5 16 Apr Noto – 20.0 21.0 9.0 33.5 3.0 6.0 1.5 3.5 2.5 12.5 10–15 Apr SWG 1,500 21.5 22.5 8.9 32.3 2.9 4.8 1.2 3.3 2.6 9.8

Hypothetical polls until April 2019