1979 Italian general election

1979 Italian general election

← 1976 3 June 1979 1983 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 630 seats in the Chamber of Deputies 316 seats needed for a majority All 315 elective seats in the Senate 162 seats needed for a majority[a]
Registered	42,203,354 (C) · 36,362,037 (S)
Turnout	38,242,918 (C) · 90.6% (2.8 pp) 32,976,304 (S) · 90.7% (2.7 pp)
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Benigno Zaccagnini Enrico Berlinguer Bettino Craxi Party DC PCI PSI Leader since 21 July 1975 17 March 1972 15 July 1976 Leader's seat Bologna (C) Rome (C) Milan (C) Seats won 262 (C) / 138 (S) 201 (C) / 109 (S) 62 (C) / 32 (S) Seat change 1 (C) / 3 (S) 26 (C) / 7 (S) 5 (C) / 3 (S) Popular vote 14,046,290 (C) 12,010,716 (S) 11,139,231 (C) 9,855,951 (S) 3,630,052 (C) 3,252,410 (S) Percentage 38.3% (C) 38.3% (S) 30.4% (C) 31.5% (S) 9.9% (C) 10.4% (S) Swing 0.4 pp (C) 0.5 pp (S) 4.0 pp (C) 2.3 pp (S) 0.3 pp (C) 0.2 pp (S)   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Giorgio Almirante Pietro Longo Marco Pannella Party MSI PSDI PR Leader since 29 June 1969[b] 20 October 1978 18 July 1976[c] Leader's seat Rome (C) Rome (C) Naples (C) Seats won 30 (C) / 13 (S) 20 (C) / 9 (S) 18 (C) / 2 (S) Seat change 5 (C) / 2 (S) 5 (C) / 3 (S) 14 (C) / 2 (S) Popular vote 1,930,639 (C) 1,780,950 (S) 1,407,535 (C) 1,320,729 (S) 1,264,870 (C) 413,444 (S) Percentage 5.3% (C) 5.7% (S) 3.8% (C) 4.2% (S) 3.5% (C) 1.3% (S) Swing 0.8 pp (C) 0.9 pp (S) 0.4 pp (C) 1.1 pp (S) 2.4 pp (C) 0.4 pp (S)
Results of the election in the Chamber and Senate.
Prime Minister before election Giulio Andreotti DC Prime Minister after the election Francesco Cossiga DC

The 1979 Italian general election was held in Italy on 3 June 1979.^[1] This election was called just a week before the European elections.

Terrorist attacks by the Red Brigades led to a reversal of the results of the previous election three years before: for the first time the Italian Communist Party lost significant numbers of seats, delaying the government change that had seemed imminent in 1976. The Communist defeat gave new strength to minor parties, as tactical voting for Christian Democracy seemed less necessary to prevent a communist victory. The Christian Democrats remained stable nonetheless, while the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement was weakened by the success of its spin-off National Democracy.

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