Parliamentary election in San Marino, 9 June 2024

A snap general election was held on June 9 in San Marino, Europe’s second-smallest state. Some 40,000 voters were called to the polls to elect the 60 members of the Grand and General Council, the republic’s unicameral parliament. 

The early election was the result of a political crisis that had began in mid-2023 when the left-wing eurosceptic R.E.T.E. movement left the coalition it had formed with the Sammarinese Christian Democratic Party (PDCS, ~EPP), Domani Motus Liberi (DML, ~ECR) and a center-left coalition led by the Party of Socialists and Democrats (PSD, ~S&D). With a turnout of just over 50%, the 2024 election confirmed the dominant position of the PDCS, which came first with 34% of the vote (+1pp) and 22 seats (+1). Among the center-left lists, the Libera/Socialist Party alliance obtained the best result with 16% of the vote and 10 seats (-4), followed by the PSD with 12% and 8 votes (+4). R.E.T.E. lost most of its voters, winning only 5% (-13pp) and 3 seats (-8). The remaining 17 seats were distributed among three smaller center-right to right-wing lists, Future Republic (12%, 8 seats, ~RE),  DML (8%, 5 seats, ~ECR) and the Reformist Alliance (AR, 4 seats, 7%).

In the weeks following the election, the PDCS, PSD, Libera/PS and AR formed a centrist coalition cabinet that was sworn in on July 22. Four of the ten secretaries of state, all PDCS members, remained in office, while six PSD, Libera, and AR members replaced the outgoing  R.E.T.E., DML, and PSD ministers. The new cabinet, which with the entry of AR and the departure of R.E.T.E. has a slightly more pro-European profile than its predecessor, hopes to conclude negotiations on the new association agreement between the European Union, San Marino and Andorra. A decision by the European Council on the ratification of the agreement is expected in the first quarter of 2025. The agreement, for which negotiations began in 2015, has suffered serious delays, with doubts raised by Italian officials, among others, about the financial aspects of the future agreement.