1979 European Parliament election

Template:Short description Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates The 1979 European Parliament election was a series of parliamentary elections held across all 9 (at the time) European Community member states. They were the first European elections to be held, allowing citizens to elect 410 MEPs to the European Parliament, and also the first international election in history.

Seats in the Parliament had been allocated to the states according to population, and in some cases were divided into constituencies, but members sat according to political groups.

Background

The Treaty of Rome which established the Communities specified that the European Parliament must be elected by universal suffrage using a common voting system. The Council of the European Union was responsible for setting up the elections but it had procrastinated. As a stop-gap measure, members were appointed to the Parliament by the member states from their own national parliaments, as they had done since the Common Assembly. The Parliament was unhappy with this and threatened to take the Council to the European Court of Justice. The Council eventually agreed to elections and the first European Parliament elections were held in 1979 after proposals were put forward in the mid-1970s. The issue of a common voting method was left undecided, and even to this day the voting methods vary from member state to member state, although all have used some form of proportional representation since 1999.

Campaigns

File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F056098-0019, Nürnberg, SPD Europa-Wahlkampf, Schmidt.jpg

Helmut Schmidt on the campaign trail in 1979

The campaigns varied. The former Social Democrat German Chancellor Willy Brandt took an international campaign to France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands to boost the Socialist group. On the other hand, the former Prime Minister of France Jacques Chirac used the election to gauge his popularity against the then-President of France Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, in anticipation of a presidential bid in 1981.

Election

In June, the 410 members were elected by universal suffrage. At the time there were no rules on the system of election to be used. The United Kingdom used a plurality voting system for multiple small constituencies in Great Britain but the other member states used proportional representation for fewer larger constituencies (usually the member state itself as a single constituency), albeit with different methods of seat allocation.

The electorate took little interest but average voter turnout was 63%. The lowest turn out was in the United Kingdom with 32.2%: all others were above 50% apart from Denmark. Aside from Belgium and Luxembourg, where voting is compulsory, the highest turnout was in Italy with 84.9%.

Result

Socialist parties working together under the Europe-wide Confederation of Socialist Parties won the most seats: the resultant Socialist group had 113 MEPs. Christian Democrat parties united within the pan-European European People's Party came second, with the resultant group having 107 MEPs. The largest third force was the Conservative European Democrats with 64, followed by Communists with 44. The Liberal Democrats had 40 seats, although their candidate was elected as President.

The groups formed were loose coalitions based on the groups founded in previous years, but they soon became the basis for modern European political parties.

National distribution of seats

State	Seats	State	Seats
	81		81
	81		81
	25		24
	16		15
	6

1979 European Parliament election – Final results at 17 July 1979

Group		Description	Chaired by	MEPs
	SOC	Social Democrats	Ernest Glinne	113	File:European Parliament Composition 1979.svg
	EPP	Christian Democrats	Egon Klepsch	107
	ED	Conservatives	James Scott-Hopkins	64
	COM	Communists and the Far Left	Giorgio Amendola	44
	LD	Liberals and Liberal Democrats	Martin Bangemann	40
	EPD	National Conservatives	Christian de La Malène	22
	CDI	Heterogeneous	Marco Pannella Neil Blaney Jens-Peter Bonde	11
	NI	Independents	none	9	Total: 410

Seats summary SOC   27.56% EPP   26.10% ED   15.61% COM   10.73% LD   9.76% EPD   5.37% CDI   2.68% NI   2.20%

Result by country

Group Nation	SOC	EPP	ED	COM	LD	EPD	CDI	NI	Total
Belgium	4 PS 3 SP	7 CVP 3 PSC			2 PVV 2 PRL		1 VU	2 FDF	24
Denmark	3 A 1 Siu	1 D	2 C	1 SF	3 V	1 FP	4 N		16
France	22 PS+MRG	8 UDF		19 PCF	17 UDF	15 RPR			81
Ireland	4 LAB	4 FG			1 Ind.	5 FF	1 Ind. FF		15
Italy	9 PSI 4 PSDI	29 DC 1 SVP		24 PCI	3 PLI 2 PRI		3 PR 1 PdUP 1 DP	4 MSI	81
Luxembourg	1 LSAP	3 CSV			2 DP				6
Netherlands	9 PvdA	10 CDA			4 VVD			2 D66	25
United Kingdom	17 LAB 1 SDLP		60 CON 1 UUP			1 SNP		1 DUP	81
West Germany	35 SPD	34 CDU 8 CSU			4 FDP				81
Total	113	107	64	44	40	22	11	9	410

Post election

File:Simone Veil, gymnase Japy 2008 02 27 n5.jpg

Simone Veil, elected as the first female President

Louise Weiss, who was born in 1893 and thus 86 at the time, was found to be Parliament's oldest member and hence presided over the chamber while the election of the President took place (July 1979). Before that could happen however, she immediately had to deal with Ian Paisley MEP who, in the first speech of the session, protested that the British flag outside the building was flying upside down. She dealt with the interruption swiftly. The confrontation was seen as one of her finest hours and she later confided that, as a grandmother, she was used to dealing with "recalcitrant youngsters".

There were five candidates for President of the European Parliament: Giorgio Amendola, Italian Communist; Emma Bonino, Italian Technical Independent; Christian de La Malène, French Progressive Democrat; Simone Veil, French Liberal, and Mario Zagari, Italian Socialist.

In the first ballot, Veil secured 183 of the 380 votes cast – eight short of the absolute majority needed. The next closest contender was Zagari with 118 votes, then Amendola with 44, de la Malène with 26 and Bonino with 9. Bonino and de la Malène dropped out and Veil secured an absolute majority in the second ballot with 192 of the 377 votes cast (Zagari gained 128 and Amendola 47). Veil was elected as the first President of the elected Parliament, and first female President of the Parliament since it was founded in 1952.

The following were elected as Vice-Presidents: Danielle De March, Basil de Ferranti, Bruno Friedrich, Guido Gonella, Gérard Jacquet, Hans Katzer, Poul Møller, Pierre Pflimlin, Bríd Rodgers, Marcel Albert Vandewiele, Anne Vondeling and Mario Zagari.

Previously the Parliament was a weak consultative assembly, the members of which were part-time. With the elections the new body of MEPs were full-time, energetic and more diverse. As soon as the Parliament was established the "old guard" MEPs of the larger parties sought to raise the bar at which a European Parliament political group could be formed (the status gave financial support and representation in committees). This move was quickly blocked by smaller groups working together and filibustering the proposal. The ties formed at this time laid the foundations of the Rainbow group: an alliance of left-wing and green parties which later became the European Greens–European Free Alliance group.

Statistics

European Parliament election, 1979 – Electoral map at 17 July 1979

European Parliament election, 1979 - electoral map European Parliament election, 1979 - electoral map
Key	Group	Description
	SOC	Social Democrats
	EPP	Christian Democrats
	ED	Conservatives
	COM	Communists and the Far Left
	LD	Liberals and Liberal Democrats
	EPD	National Conservatives
	CDI	Heterogeneous
	NI	Independents

European Parliament election, 1979 - Statistics

Area	Dates	Seats	Electorate	Turnout	Previous	Next	Election methods	Sources
European Community (EC-9)	7, 10 June 1979	410	191,783,528	63%	Inaugural	1981	All PR, except UK (not NI) which used FPTP

European Parliament election, 1979 - Timeline

Appointed Parliament			1979 Election		Regrouping		First Parliament
Groups		Pre-elections 13 February 1978	Change	Results 7 July	Change	Results 17 July	New Groups		First session 17 July
	SOC	63	+48	111	+2	113		SOC	113
	CD	52	+54	106	+1	107		EPP	107
	C	18	+45	63	+1	64		ED	64
	COM	17	+27	44	+0	44		COM	44
	LD	24	+17	41	-1	40		LD	40
	EPD	19	+2	21	+1	22		EPD	22
	NI	3	+21	24	+11	11		CDI	11
					-15	9		NI	9
Total		196	+214	410	+0	410	Total		410
Sources:

European Parliament election, 1979 - Delegation at 17 July 1979

Group		Description	Details	%	MEPs
	SOC	Social Democrats	West Germany 35, Belgium 7, Denmark 4, France 22, Ireland 4, Italy 13, Luxembourg 1, Netherlands 9, UK 18	28%	113
	EPP	Christian Democrats	West Germany 42, Belgium 10, France 8, Ireland 4, Italy 30, Luxembourg 3, Netherlands 10	26%	107
	ED	Conservatives	Denmark 3, UK 61	16%	64
	COM	Communists and the Far Left	Denmark 1, France 19, Italy 24	11%	44
	LD	Liberals and Liberal Democrats	West Germany 4, Belgium 4, Denmark 3, France 17, Ireland 1, Italy 5, Luxembourg 2, Netherlands 4	10%	40
	EPD	National Conservatives	Denmark 1, France 15, Ireland 5, UK 1	5%	22
	CDI	Heterogeneous	Belgium 1, Denmark 4, Ireland 1, Italy 5	3%	11
	NI	Independents	Belgium 2, Italy 4, Netherlands 2, UK 1	2%	9
Sources:				100%	410

European Parliament election, 1979 - Votes by national party at unknown 1979 date

Country	Party	Abbr.	Group	Votes	% (nat.)	Seats
Template:Flagu	Christian Democracy	DC	EPP	12,753,708	36.45	29
	Social Democratic Party of Germany	SPD	SOC	11,370,045	40.83	35
	Christian Democratic Union	CDU	EPP	10,883,085	39.08	34
Template:Flagu	Italian Communist Party	PCI	COM	10,345,284	29.57	24
Template:Flagu	Conservative Party	CP	ED	6,508,493	48.40	60
Template:Flagu	Union for French Democracy	UDF	LD	5,666,984	27.87	25
Template:Flagu	Socialist Party – Movement of Left Radicals	PS-MRG	SOC	4,763,026	23.43	22
Template:Flagu	Labour Party	LP	SOC	4,253,207	31.63	17
Template:Flagu	French Communist Party	PCF	COM	4,153,710	20.43	19
Template:Flagu	Italian Socialist Party	PSI	SOC	3,858,295	11.03	9
Template:Flagu	Rally for the Republic	RPR	EPD	3,301,980	16.24	15
	Christian Social Union of Bavaria	CSU	EPP	2,817,120	10.12	8
	Christian Democratic Appeal	CDA	EPP	2,017,743	35.60	10
Template:Flagu	Italian Social Movement	MSI	NI	1,907,880	5.45	4
	Labour Party	PvdA	SOC	1,722,240	30.39	9
Template:Flagu	Liberal Party	L		1,691,531	12.58
	Free Democratic Party	FDP	LD	1,662,621	5.97	4
	Christian People's Party	CVP	EPP	1,607,941	29.54	7
Template:Flagu	Italian Democratic Socialist Party	PSDI	SOC	1,512,425	4.32	4
Template:Flagu	Radical Party	PR	CDI	1,283,512	3.67	3
Template:Flagu	Italian Liberal Party	PLI	LD	1,270,152	3.63	3
	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	VVD	LD	914,787	16.14	4
Template:Flagu	Italian Republican Party	PRI	LD	895,558	2.56	2
	The Greens	GRÜNE		893,683	3.21
Template:Flagu	Ecological Europe	VERTS		891,683	4.39
	Socialist Party	SP	SOC	698,889	12.84	3
Template:Flagu	Workers' Struggle – Revolutionary Communist League	LO-LCR		623,663	3.07
	Socialist Party	PS	SOC	575,824	10.58	4
	Party for Freedom and Progress	PVV	LD	512,363	9.41	2
	Democracy 66	D66	NI	511,967	9.03	2
	Fianna Fáil	FF	EPD	464,451	34.68	5
	Christian Social Party	PSC	EPP	445,912	8.19	3
	Fine Gael	FG	EPP	443,652	33.13	4
	Democratic Front of Francophones	FDF	NI	414,603	7.62	2
Template:Flagu	Proletarian Unity Party	PdUP	CDI	406,007	1.16	1
	Social Democrats	S	SOC	382,487	21.80	3
Template:Flagu	5th List: Employment. Equality. Europe	5-EEE		373,259	1.84
	Liberal Reformist Party	PRL	LD	372,904	6.85	2
	People's Movement against the EU	FolkeB	CDI	365,760	20.85	4
	Christian Social People's Party	CSV	EPP	352,296	36.12	3
	People's Union	VU	CDI	324,540	5.96	1
Template:Flagu	Inter-Professional Union for an Independent France in a Solidary Europe	UDIP-FIDES		290,555	1.43
	Democratic Party	DP	LD	274,307	28.12	2
Template:Flagu	Party of New Forces	PFN		265,911	1.31
	Venstre	V	LD	252,767	14.41	3
Template:Flagu	Proletarian Democracy	DP	CDI	251,927	0.72	1
Template:Flagu	Scottish National Party	SNP	EPD	247,836	1.84	1
	Conservative People's Party	KF	EPP	245,309	13.98	2
	Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party	LSAP	SOC	211,106	21.64	1
Template:Flagu	South Tyrolean People's Party	SVP	EPP	196,277	0.56	1
	Irish Labour Party	ILP	SOC	193,898	14.48	4
	Independents	Ind.	NI	189,499	14.15	2
Template:Flagu	Democratic Unionist Party	DUP	NI	170,688	1.27	1
Template:Flagu	Valdostan Union – Sardinian Action Party	UV-PSd'Az		166,194	0.47
	Communist Party of Belgium	PCB-KPB		145,796	2.68
Template:Flagu	National Democracy	DN		142,354	0.41
Template:Flagu	Social Democratic and Labour Party	SDLP	SOC	140,622	1.05	1
	Reformed Political Party	SGP		126,412	2.23
Template:Flagu	Ulster Unionist Party	UUP	ED	125,169	0.93	1
Template:Flagu	Independents	Ind.		112,366	N/A
	German Communist Party	DKP		112,055	0.40
	Confederated Ecologists	ECOLO		107,833	1.98
	Centre Democrats	CD	ED	107,790	6.14	1
	Progressive Party	FP	EPD	100,702	5.74	1
	Communist Party of the Netherlands	CPN		97,343	1.72
	Pacifist Socialist Party	PSP		97,243	1.72
	Political Party of Radicals	PPR		92,055	1.62
Template:Flagu	Plaid Cymru	PC		83,399	0.62
	Socialist People's Party	SF	COM	81,991	4.67	1
	Another way of Living	AGALEV		77,986	1.43
	Social Democratic Party	SDP		68,289	7.00
	Reformed Political League	GPV		62,610	1.10
	Justice League	DR		60,954	3.47
	Left Socialists	VS		59,379	3.38
	Radical Left	RV		56,944	3.25
	Communist Party of Luxembourg	KPL		48,813	5.00
	All Power to the Workers	TPO-AMADA		45,423	0.83
	Christian Bavarian People's Party	CBV		45,311	0.16
	Sinn Féin – The Workers Party	SFWP		43,942	3.28
Template:Flagu	Alliance Party of Northern Ireland	A		39,026	0.29
	Flemish People's Party	VVP		34,706	0.64
	European Workers Party	EAP		31,822	0.11
	German Centre Party	ZENTRUM		31,367	0.11
	Christian People's Party	KrF		30,985	1.77
Template:Flagu	United Against the Common Market	UACM		27,506	N/A
	Leschot List	LL		24,903	0.44
	E-NON	E-NON		22,187	0.41
Template:Flagu	Ecology Party	EP		17,953	0.13
	PLW-PLE	PLW-PLE		17,566	0.32
	Workers Revolutionary League	LRT-RAL		16,911	0.31
Template:Flagu	Mebyon Kernow	MK		10,205	N/A
	Alternative List	AL		9,845	1.01
	PPB	PPB		9,704	0.18
	PFU	PFU		7,273	0.13
Template:Flagu	United Labour Party	ULP		6,122	1.1
	Liberal Party	LP		5,610	0.58
	Revolutionary Socialist Party	RSP		5,085	0.52
	POE	POE		4,617	0.08
Template:Flagu	Workers' Party	WP		4,418	0.8
Template:Flagu	Unionist Party of Northern Ireland	UPNI		3,712	0.6
	CDI	CDI		3,630	0.27
Template:Flagu	International Marxist Group	IMG		1,635	N/A
Template:Flagu	Ulster Liberal Party	ULP		932	0.2
Template:Flagu	EFP	EFP		497	N/A
Template:Flagu	Europe – Self-Management List	PSU		382	0.00
Template:Flagu	Regions-Europe	RE		337	0.00
Source:

See also

• List of members of the European Parliament (1979–1984)
• History of the European Communities (1973–93)

External links

• The election of the Members of the European Parliament CVCE
• Full Election Details Europe Politique Template:In lang
• Speech by Simone Veil during the first session CVCE