European Parliament election, 1989

European Parliament election, 1989

15–18 June 1989

All 518 seats to the European Parliament 260 seats needed for a majority Turnout 58.5%   First party Second party Third party   Leader Jean-Pierre Cot Egon Klepsch Valéry Giscard d’Estaing Party SOC EPP ELDR Leader's seat France Germany France Last election 130 110 31 Seats won 180* 121* 49* Seat change 50 11 18

* The number of seats was increased from 434 to 518 – so this is a nominal figure

Majority Leader before election SOC Majority Leader-Elect Jean-Pierre Cot SOC

The 1989 European Parliamentary Election was a European election held across the 12 European Community member states in June 1989. It was third European election but the first time that Spain and Portugal voted at the same time as the other members (they joined in 1986). Overall turnout dropped to 59%

Results

European Parliament election, 1989 - Final results at 25 July 1989
Group		Description	Chaired by	MEPs
	SOC	Social Democrats	Jean-Pierre Cot	180
	EPP	Christian Democrats	Egon Klepsch	121
	LDR	Liberals and Liberal Democrats	Valéry Giscard d'Estaing	49
	EUL	Communists and the Far Left	Luigi Alberto Colajanni	42
	LU		René-Emile Piquet
	ED	Conservatives	Christopher Prout	34
	G	Greens	Maria Amélia Santos	30
	EDA	National Conservatives	Christian de La Malène	20
	DR	Far-Right Nationalists	Jean-Marie Le Pen	17
	RBW	Regionalists	Jaak Vandemeulebroucke	13
	NI	Independents	none	12	Total: 518	Sources:

The Socialists held their third consecutive victory, rising to 180 seats (166 pre-election), with the People's Party managing to win only 8 extra seats. However, the European Democrats had a massive loss of 32 of the 66 seats, knocking them from third to sixth largest party. The liberals, who had already risen one place with the byelections in Spain and Portugal earlier, gained an extra seat, holding their new-found third place with both the Rainbow and Communist groups splitting post-election.

Statistics

Seat changes

National distribution of seats State Seats State Seats  West Germany 81  Belgium 24  United Kingdom 81  Portugal 24  France 81  Greece 24  Italy 81  Denmark 16  Spain 60  Ireland 15  Netherlands 25  Luxembourg 6

These were the first elections Portugal and Spain took part in with the other states. Spain was allocated 60 seats and Portugal was allocated 24; the number of seats for the other states remained the same, raising the total number of seats from 434 to 518.

External links

• The election of the Members of the European Parliament European Navigator
• Full Election Details Elections Online (In French)