The pure party-list proportional representation had traditionally become the electoral system of Italy; it was also adopted for the regional vote.

At the constituency level, seats were divided between open lists using the largest remainder method with a Droop quota.

The remaining votes and seats were transferred at the regional level, where they were divided using the Hare quota and automatically distributed to the best losers in the local lists.

Throughout Italy, the Communists lost ground, with revolutions in the Eastern Bloc marking the final decline of the party.

Secretary Achille Occhetto understood that an era was finished and prepared the transition of his group to social-democratic ideas.