Lombard regional election, 2000

Lombard regional election, 2000

16 April 2000

All 80 seats to the Regional Council of Lombardy Turnout 75.59% ( 8.65%)   Majority party Minority party   Leader Roberto Formigoni Mino Martinazzoli Party Forza Italia The Olive Tree Last election 54 seats, 41.6% 19 seats, 27.6% Seats won 51 26 Seat change 3 7 Popular vote 3,355,803 1,692,474 Percentage 62.4% 31.5% Swing 3.1%[1] 3.9%

President before election Roberto Formigoni CDU/FI President-elect Roberto Formigoni FI

The Lombard regional election of 2000 took place on 16 April 2000. The 7th term of the Regional Council was chosen.

Roberto Formigoni (Forza Italia) was re-elected for the second time in a row President, defeating Mino Martinazzoli (Italian People's Party). His re-election resulted in a landslide, as this time he was supported also by Lega Nord.

Electoral law

Lombardy uses national Tatarella Law of 1995 to elect its Council. Sixty-four councillors are elected in provincial constituencies by proportional representation using the largest remainder method with a Droop quota and open lists; remained seats and votes are grouped at regional level where a Hare quota is used, and then distributed to provincial party lists.

Sixteen councillors are elected at-large using a general ticket: parties are grouped in alliances, and the alliance which receives a plurality of votes elects all its candidates, its leader becoming the President of Lombardy. If a coalition wins more than 50% of the total seats in the Council with PR, only 8 candidates from the regional list will be chosen and the number of those elected in provincial constituencies will be 72; if the winning alliance receives less than 50% of votes, special seats are added to the Council to ensure a large majority for the President's coalition.

Council apportionment

According to the official 1991 Italian census, the 64 Council seats which must be covered by proportional representation were so distributed between Lombard provinces.

BG	BS	CO	CR	LC	LO	MN	MI	PV	SO	VA	total
7	8	4	2	2	1	3	27	3	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	=	=	=	+1	+1	-1	+2	-1	+1	+2	+7

As it can be seen, the landslide victory of the House of Freedoms caused the distribution of seven more seats to the oppositions at provincial level. Bergamo and Varese received two new seats, Cremona and Lodi and Sondrio one each.

Results

1999 European election marked a turning point in relations between Forza Italia and the North League. Silvio Berlusconi's attempt to destroy the League by a media campaign aimed at shifting protesting votes to the Italian Radicals, succeeded only in part: the consensus of the federalist movement had fallen so sharply, but not enough to ensure the coalition of the Knight from possible disasters like the 1996 election. In addition, the assembly works in Parliament had highlighted a growing programmatic convergence between the two major Lombard parties. And so, in view of the 2001 general election, Berlusconi and Umberto Bossi put aside the old, and even bloody quarrels, and formed a new coalition: the House of Freedoms, which found in the regional elections its first test.

The combination of what were the major forces of regional politics, securing a safe and agile reappointment to the Communion and Liberation's incumbent President, Roberto Formigoni, which ensured stability of the Regional Cabinet that the new regulations wanted to coincide in term with the legislature. Forza Italia was confirmed as the largest party in the region with an historic 34% of the vote, while Lega Nord was the second largest party with 15%. The Olive Tree, an alliance comprising several centre-left parties including the Italian People's Party, the Democrats of the Left, The Democrats, the Federation of the Greens and Italian Renewal, which here run in a single list for the first time in Italian history, had a great shock losing a fifth of its votes, falling at only 20%.

Candidates	Regional lists			Provincial lists						Total
	votes	%	seats	Parties	votes	%	swing	seats	party	group
Roberto Formigoni	3,355,803	62.37	8	Forza Italia	1,539,359	33.79	4.6	24	27	51
				Lega Lombarda–Lega Nord	702,479	15.42	2.3	10	11
				National Alliance	441,087	9.68	0.3	6	8
				United Christian Democrats	111,112	2.44	2.4	1	2
				Christian Democratic Centre	76,423	1.68	0.5	1	2
				Pensioners' Party	71,925	1.58	0.2	1	1
				Socialist Party	31,178	0.68	New	-	-
				The Liberals-Sgarbi	21,876	0.48	New	-	-
Mino Martinazzoli	1,692,474	31.46	1	The Olive Tree	918,345	20.16	5.9	19	20	26
				Communist Refoundation Party	289,572	6.36	1.3	5*	5
				Italian Democratic Socialists–Federation of Liberals–Others	86,517	1.90	1.6	1	1
Benedetto Della Vedova	178,406	3.32	-	Bonino List	154,396	3.39	1.6	3	3	3
Nerio Nesi	110,202	2.05	-	Party of Italian Communists	86,027	1.89	1.9	-	-	-
Giorgio Schultze	43,696	0.81	-	Humanist Party	25,350	0.56	0.5	-	-	-
Total candidates	5,380,581	100.00	9	Total parties	4,555,646	100.00	=	71	80	80

* Refoundation gave a seat to Martinazzoli. Source: Ministry of the Interior

References

1. The swing comes from the combined result of the Pole of Freedoms (41.6%) and Lega Nord (17.7%) in the 1995 regional election.