1987 Italian general election

The pure party-list proportional representation had traditionally become the electoral system for the Chamber of Deputies. Italian provinces were united in 32 constituencies, each electing a group of candidates. At constituency level, seats were divided between open lists using the largest remainder method with Imperiali quota. Remaining votes and seats were transferred at national level, where they was divided using the Hare quota, and automatically distributed to best losers into the local lists.

For the Senate, 237 single-seat constituencies were established, even if the assembly had risen to 315 members. The candidates needed a landslide victory of two thirds of votes to be elected, a goal which could be reached only by the German minorities in South Tirol. All remained votes and seats were grouped in party lists and regional constituencies, where a D'Hondt method was used: inside the lists, candidates with the best percentages were elected.

In the 1980s, for the first time since 1945, two governments were led by non-Christian Democrat Premiers: the republican Giovanni Spadolini and the socialist Bettino Craxi; the Christian Democracy remained however the main force supporting the government.

With the end of the Years of Lead, the Italian Communist Party gradually increased their votes under the leadership of Enrico Berlinguer. The Socialist party (PSI), led by Craxi, became more and more critical of the communists and of the Soviet Union; Craxi himself pushed in favour of US president Ronald Reagan's positioning of Pershing II missiles in Italy, a move the communists hotly contested.

In June 1984 Berlinguer, the charismatic Communist leader, suddenly left the stage during a speech at a public meeting in Padua: he had suffered a brain haemorrhage, and died three days later. More than a million citizens attended his funeral, one of the biggest in Italy's history. Alessandro Natta was appointed as new party's secretary. The public emotion caused by Berlinguer's death resulted in an extraordinary strength for the Communist Party in the 1984 European election: for the first time in Western Europe since the French election of 1956, and for the first time ever in Italian history, a Communist party received a plurality by a democratic vote.

In 1984, the Craxi government revised the 1927 Lateran Pacts with the Vatican, which concluded the role of Catholicism as Italy's state religion.

During this period, Italy became the fifth-largest industrial nation and gained entry into the G7.

Chamber of Deputies

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Christian Democracy	13,233,620	34.31	234	+9
	Italian Communist Party	10,250,644	26.58	177	−21
	Italian Socialist Party	5,501,696	14.26	94	+21
	Italian Social Movement	2,281,126	5.91	35	−7
	Italian Republican Party	1,428,663	3.70	21	−8
	Italian Democratic Socialist Party	1,140,209	2.96	17	−6
	Radical Party	987,720	2.56	13	+2
	Federation of Green Lists	969,218	2.51	13	New
	Italian Liberal Party	809,946	2.10	11	−5
	Proletarian Democracy	641,901	1.66	8	+1
	Liga Veneta–United Pensioners	298,402	0.77	0	0
	South Tyrolean People's Party	202,022	0.52	3	0
	Lega Lombarda	186,255	0.48	1	New
	Sardinian Action Party	169,978	0.44	2	+1
	Piedmontese Autonomist Movement	72,064	0.19	0	New
	Piedmontese Union	61,701	0.16	0	New
	Hunting – Fishing – Environment	55,911	0.14	0	New
	Aosta Valley	41,707	0.11	1	0
	DC–PCI–PSI–PSDI	29,937	0.08	0	New
	Popular Alliance	25,339	0.07	0	New
	Fiscal Liberation Movement	25,046	0.06	0	New
	Pensioners' Alliance	21,342	0.06	0	New
	Italian Green Party–Greens of Europe	20,916	0.05	0	New
	Veneto Autonomous Region Movement	18,945	0.05	0	New
	Italian National Movement of Hunters	14,787	0.04	0	New
	PNI–Hunting and Fishing	14,306	0.04	0	New
	Friuli Movement	13,208	0.03	0	0
	South Tyrol Party	11,287	0.03	0	0
	Italian Greens–Ecological Party	10,269	0.03	0	New
	Independentist Party	9,958	0.03	0	New
	Humanist Alliance	5,585	0.01	0	New
	New People's Party	5,055	0.01	0	New
	Justice and Freedom	4,793	0.01	0	0
	Sicilian Renaissance	2,951	0.01	0	New
	National Party of Tenants	2,898	0.01	0	0
	Movement for the Independence of Trieste	2,103	0.01	0	0
Total		38,571,508	100.00	630	0
Valid votes		38,571,508	95.04
Invalid/blank votes		2,015,065	4.96
Total votes		40,586,573	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		45,692,417	88.83
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Results by constituency

Senate of the Republic

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Christian Democracy	10,897,036	33.62	125	+5
	Italian Communist Party	9,181,579	28.33	101	−6
	Italian Socialist Party	3,535,457	10.91	36	−2
	Italian Social Movement	2,121,026	6.54	16	−2
	Italian Republican Party	1,248,641	3.85	8	−2
	PSI–PSDI–PR	962,215	2.97	9	0
	Italian Democratic Socialist Party	764,370	2.36	5	−3
	Italian Liberal Party	700,330	2.16	3	–3
	Federation of Green Lists	634,182	1.96	1	New
	Radical Party	572,461	1.77	3	+2
	Proletarian Democracy	493,667	1.52	1	+1
	Liga Veneta–United Pensioners	298,552	0.92	0	−1
	South Tyrolean People's Party	171,539	0.53	2	−1
	Lega Lombarda	137,276	0.42	1	New
	Sardinian Action Party	124,266	0.38	1	0
	Lay-Socialist Alliance (PSI–PSDI–PRI–PLI–PR)[b]	84,883	0.26	1	New
	Piedmontese Autonomist Movement	60,742	0.19	0	New
	PSI–PSDI–PR–Greens	58,501	0.18	1	0
	Pensioners Popular Alliance	51,790	0.16	0	New
	Piedmontese Union	51,340	0.16	0	New
	Molisean Democratic Alliance	49,297	0.15	0	New
	Hunting – Fishing – Environment	41,135	0.13	0	New
	Aosta Valley	35,830	0.11	1	0
	DC–PCI–PSI–PSDI–PLI	25,426	0.08	0	New
	Italian Green Party–Greens of Europe	22,006	0.07	0	New
	Italian Greens–Ecological Party	19,127	0.06	0	New
	Friuli Movement	17,528	0.05	0	0
	Fiscal Liberation Movement	13,915	0.04	0	New
	Independentist Party	11,818	0.04	0	New
	South Tyrol Party	8,551	0.03	0	New
	Sicilian Renaissance	5,258	0.02	0	New
	Sardinian Action Party–Alliance for Federalism	4,812	0.01	0	New
	National Party of Tenants	4,103	0.01	0	New
	Italian National Movement of Hunters	2,695	0.01	0	New
	New People's Party	2,507	0.01	0	New
Total		32,413,861	100.00	315	0
Valid votes		32,413,861	94.17
Invalid/blank votes		2,007,369	5.83
Total votes		34,421,230	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		38,951,485	88.37
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Results by constituency