Venetian regional election, 2005

The Venetian regional election of 2005 took place on 3-4 April 2005.

Giancarlo Galan (Forza Italia, House of Freedoms) was re-elected for the third time in a row President of the Region, but the support for him was diminished by the presence of a third candidate, Giorgio Panto, who picked votes both from the centre-right and the Venetist camps, and of a fourth candidate representing the far right, Roberto Bussinello.

Although Forza Italia remained the largest party in the Council and also in the Region as a whole (The Olive Tree was only an electoral alliance at the time and the three parties which were part of it formed separate groups in the Council), it suffered a serious decline in term of votes, from 30.3% of 2000 to 22.7%.

Venetist parties had a very good result: the combined score of Liga Veneta (14.7%), North-East Project (5.4%) and Liga Fronte Veneto (1.2%) was 21.3%, up from the 15.6% of 2000 (Liga Veneta 12.0%, Veneti d'Europa 2.4% and Fronte Marco Polo 1.2%).

Results

Candidates	Regional lists			Provincial lists					Total
	votes	%	seats	Parties	votes	%	swing	seats	party	group
Giancarlo Galan	1,359,879	50.58	12	Forza Italia	523,896	22.71	-7.6	12	16	39
				Liga Veneta–Lega Nord	337,896	14.65	+2.7	7	11
				National Alliance	186,396	8.08	-1.7	4	6
				Union of Christian and Centre Democrats	147,953	6.41	+0.3	3	5
				NPSI–Others	32,851	1.42	+0.7	1	1
Massimo Carraro	1,138,631	42.35	1	The Olive Tree Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy Democrats of the Left Italian Democratic Socialists Independents	560,629	24.30	-2.8	13 7 5 1 0	14 7 5 1 1	19
				For Veneto with Carraro	107,333	4.65	new	2	2
				Communist Refoundation Party	80,424	3.49	+0.6	1	1
				Federation of the Greens	69,191	3.00	+0.7	1	1
				Party of Italian Communists	35,067	1.52	+0.5	1	1
				Italy of Values	29,607	1.28	new	0	0
				Liga Fronte Veneto	27,524	1.19	-2.4	0	0
				Consumers' List	15,658	0.68	new	0	0
				Populars–UDEUR	6,265	0.27	new	0	0
Giorgio Panto	161,642	6.01	-	North-East Project	125,690	5.45	new	2	2	2
Roberto Bussinello	28,565	1.06	-	Social Alternative	20,434	0.89	new	0	0	-
Total candidates	2,688,717	100.0	13	Total parties	2,306,814	100.00	=	47	60	60

Source: Ministry of the Interior and Regional Council of Veneto

Council composition

Distribution of Seats in the Regional Council
Political Group	Leader	2005	2010
Forza Italia	Remo Sernagiotto	16	16
The Olive Tree – Venetian Democratic Party	Giovanni Gallo	-	12
Liga Veneta–Lega Nord	Franco Manzato/ Roberto Ciambetti	11	10
National Alliance	Piergiorgio Cortelazzo	6	6
Union of Christian and Centre Democrats	Onorio De Boni	5	4
Italy of Values	Damiano Rossato	-	2
North-East Project	Mariangelo Foggiato	2	1
For Veneto with Carraro	Marco Zabotti	2	1
Communist Refoundation Party	Pietrangelo Pettenò	1	1
Federation of the Greens	Gianfranco Bettin	1	1
New Italian Socialist Party	Nereo Laroni	1	1
Party of Italian Communists	Nicola Atalmi	1	1
Veneto for the European People's Party	Raffaele Grazia	-	1
Venetian Agreement	Carlo Covi	-	1
Venetian People's Movement	Francesco Piccolo	-	1
Forum of the Venetians	Diego Cancian	-	1
Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy	Achille Variati	7	-
Democrats of the Left	Giovanni Gallo	5	-
Italian Democratic Socialists	Carlo Covi	1	-
United for Carraro	Massimo Carraro	1	-

Sources: Regional Council of Veneto – Groups and Regional Council of Veneto – Members

Aftermath

After the election, Giancarlo Galan formed his third government. Due to the new strength of Liga Veneta, which received about 2/3 of the vote for Forza Italia, the coalition balance was clearly changed in favour of Liga Veneta. This party had both the post of President of the Regional Council for Marino Finozzi and the most important ministry, the Health ministry, for Flavio Tosi (who was replaced by Francesca Martini in 2007).

Also the post of Vice President of Veneto went to a lighista, Luca Zaia, in place of Fabio Gava (Forza Italia), who had been also Minister of Health in second term. Forza Italia was indeed far less strong than in 2000, when it won 30.3% of the vote: in comparison with 2000, Forza Italia lost three regional deputies, while Liga Veneta had a net gain of four.

Galan III Government^[1]

Office	Name	Party
President	Giancarlo Galan	FI
Under-Secretary	Leonardo Padrin (since 12 June 2007)[2]	FI
Vice President	Luca Zaia (until 6 June 2008) Franco Manzato (since 6 June 2008)	LV–LN
Minister of Economy, Development and Innovation	Fabio Gava (until 9 July 2008) Vendemiano Sartor (since 9 July 2008)	FI
Minister of Budget, Finances, International Relations	Maria Luisa Coppola	AN
Minister of Health	Flavio Tosi (until 26 June 2007) Francesca Martini (26 June 2007 – 6 June 2008) Sandro Sandri (since 6 June 2008)	LV–LN
Minister of Security and Public Works	Massimo Giorgetti	AN
Minister of Social Affairs	Antonio De Poli (until 28 July 2006) Stefano Valdegamberi (since 9 November 2006)	UDC
Minister of Education	Elena Donazzan	AN
Minister of Transports and Infrastructures	Renato Chisso	FI
Minister of Agriculture and Tourism	Luca Zaia (until 6 June 2008) Franco Manzato (since 6 June 2008)	LV–LN
Minister of Environment	Giancarlo Conta	FI
Minister of Immigration	Oscar De Bona	NPSI
Minister of Territorial Affairs	Renzo Marangon	FI
Minister of Local Affairs	Stefano Valdegamberi (until 9 November 2006) Flavio Silvestrin (since 9 November 2006)	UDC

References

1. Veneto Region
2. Dettaglio Deliberazione della Giunta Regionale - Bollettino Ufficiale della Regione del Veneto