Poll shock for Italy’s main party

Press, 29 June 1983, Page 6

Poll shock for Italy’s main party

NZPA-Reuter Rome Italy’s dominant Christian Democratic Party yesterday suffered its worst electoral set-back, losing over 5 per cent of its traditional vote share and securing only a small lead over the Communists. Final results from Italy’s General Election announced yesterday by the Interior Ministry gave the Christian Democrats 32.9 per cent of the vote, 3 per cent down on its showing in the last elections <1979, and just 3 per cent atead of the Commun-

ists. The Communists’ score of 29.9 per cent was marginally down on its 30.4 per cent in the last election, but defied widespread predictions that the party would lose markedly in the poll The gap between the parties was the narrowest recorded since the foundation of the Republic in 1946. The Christian Democrats had never previously gained less than 38.3 per cent. The Interior Ministry figures were for the 630jfceat Chamber of Deputes.

Figures announced earlier for the Senate (Upper House) showed a 5.9 per cent fall in the Christian Democrat vote. The largest gain was made by the Republican Party of a former Prime Minister, Giovanni Spadolini, which increased its vote share to 5.1 per cent, 2.1 per cent up on 1979. The Socialists, who precipitated the election in April by withdrawing from the Government, gained 1.6 per cent to take 11.4 per cent, short of the 13 per

cent target they had hoped for to boost the party leader Bettino Craxi’s bid for the Prime Minister’s post. The neo-Fascist Italian Social Movement (M. 5.1. also gained in an election widely seen as a protest vote against unstable and ineffective government. The Christian Democrats have been in power since 1946. Under Italy’s proportional representation system, the vote gave the Christian Democrats 225 seats in the 630-member Chamber of

Deputies, a drop of 37 on 1979. The Communists gained 198 seats, three fewer than at the last poll, and the Socialists increased their presence from 62 to 73 seats. The poll defied predictions made after a lacklustre campaign that little would change, and commentators unanimously declared that the collapse of the Christian Democrats effectively ushered in a new*' period ih Italian politics.