1978 Italian presidential election

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1978 Italian presidential election

← 1971 29 June – 8 July 1978 1985 →
1,011 voters (323 Senators, 630 Deputies and 58 regional representatives) 675 (1st–3rd ballots) or 506 (4th ballot onwards) votes needed to win
Nominee Sandro Pertini Party PSI Electoral vote 832 Percentage 82.3%
Result on the sixteenth ballot (8 July 1978)   Pertini 832   Others 36   Invalids, blanks, abstentions 143
President before election Giovanni Leone DC Elected President Sandro Pertini PSI

The 1978 Italian presidential election was held in Italy between 29 June and 8 July 1978, following the resignation of incumbent President Giovanni Leone on 15 June 1978 because of the Lockheed bribery scandals.

Only members of Parliament and regional delegates were entitled to vote, most of these electors having been elected in the 1976 general election and in the 1975 regional elections. As head of state of the Italian Republic, the President has a role of representation of national unity and guarantees that Italian politics comply with the Italian Constitution, in the framework of a parliamentary system.

On 8 July 1978 former socialist partisan and President of the Chamber of Deputies Sandro Pertini was elected President with 832 votes out of 1,011, the biggest majority ever obtained by an elected president.