The 2014 European Parliament election in Italy took place on 25 May 2014. Italy elected 73 MEPs out of 751 European Parliament seats.
The governing Democratic Party (PD) won the election with 40.8% of the vote and 31 seats, followed by the Five Star Movement (21.2% and 17 seats) and Forza Italia (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.Renzi's triumph in EU vote gives mandate for Italian reform The PD's score was also the best result for an Italian party in a nationwide election since the 1958 general election, when the Christian Democracy won 42.4% of the vote.
The other parties that have passed the national electoral threshold at 4% are Northern League (6.2% and 5 seats), New Centre-Right – Union of the Centre (4.4% and 3 seats) and The Other Europe (4.0% and 3 seats). The parties that have not passed the electoral threshold and that have not gained any seat are Brothers of Italy (3.7%), European Greens – Green Italia (0.9%), European Choice (0.7%), Italy of Values (0.7%) and I Change – Associative Movement Italians Abroad (0.2%).
The 4% threshold can be bypassed by parties representing linguistic minorities, provided they get more than 50,000 votes, in connection with a party gaining more than 4% of the vote. The South Tyrolean People's Party, representing the German-speaking minority of South Tyrol, won a seat thanks to its connection with the PD.
Electoral system
The party-list proportional representation was the traditional electoral system of the Italian Republic since its foundation in 1946, so it had been adopted to elect the Italian representatives to the European Parliament too. Two levels were used: a national level to divide seats between parties, and a constituency level to distribute them between candidates. Italian regions were united in five constituencies, each electing a group of deputies. At national level, seats were divided between party lists using the largest remainder method with Hare quota. All seats gained by each party were automatically distributed to their local open lists and their most voted candidates.
In the run-up to the 2009 election, the Italian Parliament introduced a national electoral threshold of 4% in the electoral law for the European Parliament; however, the electoral law guarantees representation for linguistic minorities. The parties which represent minorities can be connected with the major parties for the purpose of elections, combining their votes. If the party of the linguistic minority gets more than 50,000 votes, it wins a seat.
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, Veneto14CentralLatium, Marche, Tuscany, Umbria14SouthernAbruzzo, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise17IslandsSardinia, Sicily8
Main parties and leaders
Outgoing MEPs This is a list of Italian delegations sitting at the European Parliament before 25 May 2014. EP GroupSeatsPartyMEPsEuropean People's PartyForza Italia 15 New Centre-Right 7Union of the Centre 5Brothers of Italy 2 Populars for Europe2South Tyrolean People's Party 1Union of Democrats for Europe 1Future and Freedom 1Progressive Alliance of Socialists and DemocratsDemocratic Party23Europe of Freedom and DemocracyNorthern League 6I Change1I Love Italy1Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for EuropeItaly of Values 4European Conservatives and ReformistsForza Italia1Conservatives and Social Reformers1Non-InscritsNorthern League 1Independent1
Retiring incumbents The following MEPs are not seeking re-election: Constituency Departing MEPPartyEP Group First elected Terms Date announced North-East Italy Vittorio Prodi 2004 2 North-East Italy Tiziano Motti 2009 1
Summary of parties In the following table the twelve parties/lists participating in the election are listed.
PartyMain ideologyLeaderEuropean PartySeats Democratic Party Social democracy Matteo Renzi PES Forza Italia Liberal conservatism Silvio Berlusconi EPPNew Centre-Right – UDC Christian democracy Angelino Alfano EPPNorthern LeagueRegionalism Matteo Salvini None Italy of Values Anti-corruption politics Ignazio Messina ALDE Brothers of Italy National conservatism Giorgia Meloni None European Choice Liberalism Stefania Giannini Bruno Tabacci Michele Boldrin ALDE I Change – MAIE Centrism Angelo Alessandri None South Tyrolean People's Party RegionalismArno Kompatscher EPP Five Star Movement PopulismBeppe Grillo None The Other Europe Democratic socialism Collective leadership PEL European Greens – Green Italia Green politics Monica Frassoni Angelo BonelliEGP
Top candidates In the following table the top candidates of each party/list in the five constituencies are listed. In the case in which the party leader stands in all five of them as top candidate, also the second in the list is shown. The Five Star Movement's slates were compiled following the alphabetical order.
PartyNorth-WestNorth-EastCentreSouthIslandsSource Forza Italia Giovanni Toti Elisabetta Gardini Antonio Tajani Raffaele Fitto Gianfranco Micciché link Democratic Party Alessia Mosca Alessandra Moretti Simona Bonafé Pina Picierno Caterina Chinnici link Northern League Matteo SalviniClaudio Borghi Matteo SalviniFlavio Tosi Matteo SalviniManuel Vescovi Matteo SalviniAngelo Attaguile (MPA) Matteo SalviniFrancesca Donato link Italy of Values Ignazio MessinaGiommaria Uggias Ignazio MessinaAntonino Pipitone Ignazio MessinaPaolo Brutti Ignazio MessinaAniello Di Nardo Ignazio MessinaGiommaria Uggias link New Centre-Right – Union of the Centre Maurizio Lupi (NCD) Antonio Cancian (NCD) Beatrice Lorenzin (NCD) Lorenzo Cesa (UDC) Giovanni La Via (NCD) link Five Star Movement Gabriele Antonica(alphabetical order) Marco Affronte(alphabetical order) Laura Agea(alphabetical order) Isabella Adinolfi(alphabetical order) Ignazio Corrao(alphabetical order) link Brothers of Italy Giorgia MeloniGuido Crosetto Giorgia MeloniMagdi Allam Giorgia MeloniMarco Scurria Giorgia MeloniGianni Alemanno Giorgia MeloniSalvatore Deidda link The Other Europe Curzio Maltese Paola Morandin Barbara Spinelli Ermanno Rea Barbara Spinelli link European Choice Gianluca Susta (SC) Michele Boldrin (FFD) Stefania Giannini (SC) Bruno Tabacci (CD) Anna Busia (CD) link European Greens – Green Italia Oliviero Alotto (GI) Syusy Blady Annalisa Corrado (GI) Vincenzo Fornaro Fabio Granata (GI) link I Change – MAIE Agostino D'Antuoni (IC) Maria Cristina Sandrin Claudio Morganti (IC) Davide Vannoni Davide Vannoni South Tyrolean People's Party — Herbert Dorfmann — — — link
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.