European Parliament election, 2009 (Italy)

European elections

Elections in the European Union

Elections to the Parliament of the European Union take place every five years by universal adult suffrage. 736 MEPs are elected to the European Parliament which has been directly elected since 1979. No other body is directly elected although the Council of the European Union and European Council is...

 to elect 72 members of the European Parliament

Member of the European Parliament

A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...

 (MEPs) representing Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 were held on Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 June 2009, as decided by the Italian government

Council of Ministers of Italy

The Cabinet of Italy is a principal organ of the Government of Italy...

 on December 18, 2008. Local elections were held the same day.

It is unusual for an election to be held in Italy on Saturday and Sunday; elections usually are held on Sundays and Mondays, but European elections always finish on Sundays not to delay the general results on continental level. An electoral threshold at 4% was introduced by the Italian Parliament.

The election was a victory for Prime Minister

Prime minister of Italy

The Prime Minister of Italy is the head of government of the Italian Republic...

 Silvio Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...

. The parties supporting the government having won the majority of seats, 38. The opposition collectively elected 34 candidates.

Results

	Party	Votes	%	Seats
	The People of Freedom The People of Freedom The People of Freedom is a centre-right political party in Italy. With the Democratic Party, it is one of the two major parties of the current Italian party system....	10,807,794	35.3	29
	Democratic Party Democratic Party (Italy) The Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party in Italy, that is the second-largest in the country. The party is led by Pier Luigi Bersani, who was elected in the 2009 leadership election....	8,008,203	26.1	21
	Lega Nord	3,126,915	10.2	9
	Italy of Values Italy of Values Italy of Values is a centrist, populist and anti-corruption political party in Italy. The party, which is affiliated to the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party , is headed by former Mani pulite prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro, who entered politics in 1996.The party aims to gather and give...	2,452,569	8.0	7
	Union of the Centre	1,996,901	6.5	5
	Anticapitalist List Anticapitalist List The Anticapitalist List was a communist coalition of political parties in Italy, formed in the run-up to the 2009 European Parliament election in order to overcome the 4% threshold introduced by the new electoral law.... (PRC Communist Refoundation Party The Communist Refoundation Party is a communist Italian political party. Its current secretary is Paolo Ferrero.... , PdCI Party of Italian Communists The Party of Italian Communists is a communist political party in Italy. Its long-time leader is Oliviero Diliberto.-Foundation and early years:...  and others)	1,038,247	3.4	-
	Left and Freedom  (Greens Federation of the Greens The Federation of the Greens is a green political party in Italy, which includes also a large eco-socialist faction. Since 2009 the party leader is Angelo Bonelli.-Early years:... , PS, MpS Movement for the Left Movement for the Left was a socialist and communist political party in Italy, emerged by a split from the Communist Refoundation Party...  and SD Democratic Left (Italy) Democratic Left was a democratic socialist political party in Italy.It was founded on 5 May 2007 by splinters of the Democrats of the Left centred around Fabio Mussi and Gavino Angius, who opposed the merger of the DS into the Democratic Party... )	958,458	3.1	-
	Others	2,233,194	7.3	-
	Total	32,747,722	100.0	72