2010 Lombard regional election

28–29 March 2010

All 80 seats to the Regional Council of Lombardy
Turnout64.64% (Decrease 8.33%)
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Roberto Formigoni Filippo Penati
Party People of Freedom Democratic Party
Alliance Centre-right Centre-left
Last election 52 seats, 53.9% 28 seats, 43.2%
Seats won 49 28
Seat change Decrease3 Steady
Popular vote 2,704,057 1,603,674
Percentage 56.1% 33.3%
Swing Increase2.2% Decrease9.9%


President before election

Roberto Formigoni
FI/PdL

President-elect

Roberto Formigoni
PdL

The 2010 Lombard regional election took place on 28–29 March 2010. The 9th term of the Regional Council was chosen.

Roberto Formigoni, who was the longest-serving President of Region in Italy along with Giancarlo Galan of Veneto, obtained a historic fourth consecutive term. His opponent was Filippo Penati, a Democrat, who was President of the Province of Milan from 2004 to 2009.[1] The Lombard League, that is to say the regional section of Northern League in Lombardy, backed Formigoni in return of the support granted by The People of Freedom to Northern League candidates in Veneto (Luca Zaia) and Piedmont (Roberto Cota).

Minor candidates who were running were Savino Pezzotta for the Union of the Centre,[2] Vito Crimi for Beppe Grillo's movement,[3] Vittorio Agnoletto for the Communist Refoundation Party and Gianmario Invernizzi for New Force. Marco Cappato for the Italian Radicals did not gain enough signatures to back his candidature.[4]

Electoral system

Regional elections in Lombardy were ruled by the "Tatarella law" (approved in 1995), which provided for a mixed electoral system: four fifths of the regional councilors were elected in provincial constituencies by proportional representation, using the largest remainder method with a droop quota and open lists, while the residual votes and the unassigned seats were grouped into a "single regional constituency", where the whole ratios and the highest remainders were divided with the Hare method among the provincial party lists; one fifth of the council seats instead was reserved for regional lists and assigned with a majoritarian system: the leader of the regional list that scored the highest number of votes was elected to the presidency of the Region while the other candidates were elected regional councilors.

A threshold of 3% had been established for the provincial lists, which, however, could still have entered the regional council if the regional list to which they were connected had scored at least 5% of valid votes.

The panachage was also allowed: the voter can indicate a candidate for the presidency but prefer a provincial list connected to another candidate.

Council apportionment

According to the official 2001 Italian census, the 64 Council seats which must be covered by proportional representation are so distributed between Lombard provinces.

 BG  BS  CO  CR  LC  LO  MN  MI  MB  PV  SO  VA total
7 8 4 2 2 1 3 21 5 4 1 6 64

The allocation is not fixed. Remaining seats and votes after proportional distribution, are all grouped at regional level and divided by party lists. The consequent division of these seats at provincial level usually change the original apportionment. Only 43 seats were directly assigned at provincial level, and the final distribution between provinces changed in this way.

 BG  BS  CO  CR  LC  LO  MN  MI  PV  SO  VA total
+2 +2 = = +1 = = +2 -1 +1 = +7

As it can be seen, the landslide victory of Formigoni's Alliance caused the distribution of seven more seats to the oppositions at provincial level. Bergamo and Brescia received two new seats, Lecco and Milan and Sondrio one each.

Controversies on Formigoni's candidature

Formigoni's candidature, which allowed him a 4th mandate, has been contested by academics and left-wing politicians, as in disregard of Law n. 165/2004, that put a limit of two subsequent mandates to directly-elected Region Presidents. Formigoni was indirectly elected in 1995, but then directly elected in 2000 and 2005. He defends himself stating that the law was not in action when he was first directly elected in 2000, so he should be allowed a 4th mandate. After re-election, his mandate may be overturned by judges later on.[5][6]

Formigoni also sparked controversies when agreeing to put in his majority-premium list, granting her safe election, Nicole Minetti, former showgirl and actual dental hygienist of Silvio Berlusconi, who asked for a political seat for her.

Parties and candidates

Political party or alliance Constituent lists Previous result Candidate
Votes (%) Seats
Centre-right coalition The People of Freedom 34.6 23 Roberto Formigoni
Northern League 15.8 11
The Right
Centre-left coalition Democratic Party 27.1 19 Filippo Penati
Federation of the Greens 2.9 2
Pensioners' Party 2.6 1
Italy of Values 1.4 1
Left Ecology Freedom
Italian Socialist Party
Federation of the Left (incl. PRC and PdCI) 8.0 4 Vittorio Agnoletto
Union of the Centre 3.8 2 Savino Pezzotta
Five Star Movement Vito Crimi
New Force Gianmario Invernizzi

Results

The election led to the return to the guide of the Region, for its fourth consecutive term, Communion and Liberation's Roberto Formigoni, supported by the centre-right coalition.

If the mechanisms of electoral law generated a Regional Council very similar to the incumbent one speaking about coalitions, the most relevant change was the five new seats conquered by the League, which obtained its best performance ever. More, the League was strangely penalized by the electoral law, having conquered fewer seats than as it would be with a proportional representation.

The People of Freedom was confirmed as the largest party in the region with 32% of the vote, despite a decline of three points, while Lega Nord took the 26% and Democratic Party the 23%.

28–29 March 2010 Lombard regional election results
Candidates Votes  % Seats Parties Votes  % Seat
Roberto Formigoni 2,704,364 56.11 8
The People of Freedom 1,355,133 31.79 23
Northern LeagueLombard League 1,117,227 26.21 18
The Right 7,008 0.16
Total 2,479,368 58.16 41
Filippo Penati 1,603,666 33.27 1
Democratic Party 976,215 22.90 21
Italy of Values 267,954 6.29 4
Pensioners' Party 69,932 1.64 1
Left Ecology Freedom 59,112 1.39 1
Federation of the Greens 35,060 0.82
Italian Socialist Party 13,415 0.31
Total 1,421,688 33.35 27
Savino Pezzotta 225,849 4.69 Union of the Centre 164,078 3.85 3
Vito Crimi 144,585 3.00 Five Star Movement 99,390 2.33
Vittorio Agnoletto 113,754 2.36 Federation of the Left 87,221 2.05
Gianmario Invernizzi 27,358 0.57 New Force 11,281 0.26
Total candidates 4,819,576 100.00 9 Total parties 4,263,026 100.00 71
Source: Ministry of the Interior – Historical Archive of Elections
Popular vote (party)
PdL
31.79%
LN
26.21%
PD
22.90%
IdV
6.29%
UDC
3.85%
M5S
2.33%
FdS
2.05%
Others
4.58%
President
Formigoni
56.11%
Penati
33.27%
Pezzotta
4.69%
Crimi
3.00%
Agnoletto
2.36%
Invernizzi
0.57%

Results by province

Election results map. Orange denotes municipalities won by Penati and Blue denotes those won by Formigoni.
Province Roberto Formigoni Filippo Penati Savino Pezzotta Vito Crimi Vittorio Agnoletto Gianmario Invernizzi
Milan 741,051 (50.25%) 585,722 (39.72%) 50,421
(3.42%)
48,979
(3.32%)
41,376
(2.81%)
7,252
(0.49%)
Brescia 362,187 (58.96%) 178,958 (29.13%) 37,565
(6.11%)
19,215
(3.13%)
12,106
(1.97%)
4,310
(0.70%)
Bergamo 340,527 (61.91%) 145,273 (26.41%) 36,720
(6.68%)
14,777
(2.69%)
10,096
(1.84%)
2,672
(0.49%)
Varese 259,496 (60.51%) 125,111 (29.17%) 20,159
(4.70%)
12,748
(2.97%)
8,926
(2.08%)
2,421
(0.56%)
Monza and Brianza 240,858 (56.32%) 144,246 (33.73%) 17,802
(4.16%)
14,788
(3.46%)
7,815
(1.83%)
2,117
(0.50%)
Como 183,765 (63.41%) 79,757
(27.37%)
12,657
(4.34%)
6,490
(2.23%)
5,599
(1.92%)
2,104
(0.72%)
Pavia 156,750 (57.12%) 88,690
(32.32%)
11,715
(4.27%)
7,483
(2.73%)
7,829
(2.85%)
1,964
(0.72%)
Mantua 100,135 (49.81%) 77,311
(38.46%)
10,574
(5.26%)
6,698
(3.33%)
5,638
(2.80%)
663
(0.33%)
Cremona 99,463
(54.15%)
63,213
(34.42%)
9,520
(5.18%)
4,978
(2.71%)
5,164
(2.81%)
1,333
(0.73%)
Lecco 100,897 (57.38%) 57,861
(32.91%)
8,293
(4.72%)
4,163
(2.37%)
3,808
(2.17%)
795
(0.45%)
Lodi 59,619
(53.80%)
37,837
(34.14%)
5,451
(4.92%)
2,873
(2.59%)
3,633
(3.28%)
1,402
(1.27%)
Sondrio 58,634
(67.57%)
19,687
(22.69%)
4,972
(5.73%)
1,393
(1.61%)
1,764
(2.03%)
325
(0.37%)

References

  1. "Archivio Corriere della Sera".
  2. "UDC runs without allies (it.)". Archived from the original on 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2010-01-22.
  3. Vito Crimi's blog (it.) Archived 2009-12-19 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Cappato's nomination for Radicals (it.)
  5. Vittorio Angiolini, professore ordinario di Diritto costituzionale dell'Università di Milano; Margherita Raveraira, Università di Perugia Il limite del doppio mandato alla immediata rielezione del Presidente della giunta regionale: una questione complessa Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine, Federalismi.it
  6. Michele Ainis, La terza via di Errani e Formigoni Archived 2010-01-30 at the Wayback Machine, La Stampa, 25 gennaio 2010
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