European Elections in Italy and Europe

The European elections constituted the most important electoral appointment of 2009 in Italy.1 For this reason, the electoral campaign became embroiled in a heated discussion of major relevant national themes. On the one hand, this was in line with what had taken place in the preceding elections; on the other hand, with respect to the recent past, one also observes three fundamental differences. The first is that the elections were regulated by an electoral law that had been deeply modified in key aspects. Second, as a consequence of these modifications, the number of Italian parties represented in the European Parliament was reduced from 15 in 2004 to 5 in 2009.