Politics of Emilia-Romagna

Politics of Emilia-Romagna
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The politics of Emilia-Romagna, a region of Italy, takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democracy, whereby the President of Regional Government is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the Regional Government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Legislative Assembly.

The region has long been a stronghold of the Italian Communist Party and its successors, from the Democratic Party of the Left to the present-day Democratic Party, and is part of the so-called "Red belt", along with Tuscany, Marche and Umbria.^[1][2][3]

The Regional Government (Giunta Regionale) is presided by the President of the Region (Presidente della Regione), who is elected for a five-year term, and is composed by the President, the Ministers (Assessori), who are currently 12, including a vice president and one Under-Secretary for in President's office.^[4]

N.	Portrait	President	Term of office		Tenure (Years and days)	Party		Composition	Legislature
1		Guido Fanti (1925–2012)	28 July 1970	22 July 1975	5 years, 298 days		Italian Communist Party	PCI–PSIUP	I (1970)
			22 July 1975	21 May 1976				PCI	II (1975)
2		Sergio Cavina (1929–1977)	21 May 1976	22 December 1977 †	1 year, 215 days		Italian Communist Party	PCI–PSI
3		Lanfranco Turci (1940–)	7 January 1978	25 July 1980	9 years, 127 days		Italian Communist Party
			25 July 1980	16 July 1985				PCI–PDUP	III (1980)
			16 July 1985	28 April 1987				PCI	IV (1985)
4		Luciano Guerzoni (1935–2017)	28 April 1987	24 June 1990	3 years, 57 days		Italian Communist Party
5		Enrico Boselli (1957–)	24 June 1990	5 July 1993	3 years, 11 days		Italian Socialist Party	PCI/PDS–PSI–PRI–PSDI	V (1990)
6		Pier Luigi Bersani (1951–)	5 July 1993	9 June 1995	2 years, 328 days		Democratic Party of the Left	PDS–PSI–PRI–PSDI
			9 June 1995	28 May 1996				PDS–PPI–PdD–FdV	VI (1995)
7		Antonio La Forgia (1944–2022)	5 June 1996	22 February 1999	2 years, 262 days		Democratic Party of the Left	PDS–PPI–PdD–FdV
8		Vasco Errani (1955–)	3 March 1999	16 April 2000	15 years, 127 days		Democrats of the Left	DS–PPI–PdD–FdV
			16 April 2000	5 April 2005				DS–PRC–Dem–FdV–PdCI	VII (2000)
			5 April 2005	29 March 2010			Democratic Party	PD–PRC–IdV–FdV–PdCI	VIII (2005)
			29 March 2010	8 July 2014				PD–SEL–PdCI–IdV	IX (2010)
9		Stefano Bonaccini (1967–)	24 November 2014	28 February 2020	9 years, 231 days		Democratic Party	PD–SEL	X (2014)
			28 February 2020	12 July 2024				PD–SI–IV–EV	XI (2020)
10		Michele De Pascale (1985– )	Elect				Democratic Party	PD–AVS–M5S	XII (2024)

The Legislative Assembly of Emilia-Romagna (Assemblea Legislativa dell'Emilia-Romagna) is composed of 50 members. 40 councillors are elected in provincial constituencies by proportional representation using the largest remainder method with a Droop quota and open lists, while 10 councillors (elected in bloc) come from a "regional list", including the President-elect. One seat is reserved for the candidate who comes second. If a coalition wins more than 50% of the total seats in the council with PR, only 5 candidates from the regional list will be chosen and the number of those elected in provincial constituencies will be 45. If the winning coalition receives less than 40% of votes special seats are added to the council to ensure a large majority for the President's coalition.^[5]

The council is elected for a five-year term, but, if the President suffers a vote of no confidence, resigns or dies, under the simul stabunt, simul cadent clause introduced in 1999 (literally they will stand together or they will fall together), also the council is dissolved and a snap election is called.^[6]

Emilia-Romagna is divided in nine provinces, which are a traditional form of local administration in the region.

Socialist and communist ideas had an early diffusion in quite all the provinces around World War I. After the Fascist parenthesis, left-wing parties found their strongholds in Emilia-Romagna, also known as the "red region of Italy".

Tuscany is also divided in 331 comuni (municipalities), which have even more history, having been established in the Middle Ages when they were the main places of government. 17 comuni (9 provincial capitals) have more than 35,000 inhabitants.^[7]

In the latest regional election, which took place on 26 January 2020, Stefano Bonaccini (Democratic Party) was re-elected President of Emilia-Romagna, despite a strong challenge posed by Lucia Borgonzoni (Lega Nord Emilia–Romagna).

26 January 2020 Emilia-Romagna regional election results

Candidates		Votes	%	Seats	Parties		Votes	%	Seats
	Stefano Bonaccini	1,195,742	51.42	1		Democratic Party	749,976	34.69	22
						Bonaccini for President	124,591	5.76	3
						Brave Emilia-Romagna	81,419	3.77	2
						Green Europe	42,156	1.95	1
						More Europe – PSI – PRI	33,087	1.53	–
						Volt Emilia-Romagna	9.253	0.43	–
					Total		1,040,482	48.12	28
	Lucia Borgonzoni	1,014,672	43.63	1		League	690,864	31.95	14
						Brothers of Italy	185,796	8.59	3
						Forza Italia	55,317	2.56	1
						Borgonzoni for President	37,462	1.73	–
						Cambiamo! – The People of Family	6,341	0.29	–
						Young People for the Environment	6,007	0.28	–
					Total		981,787	45.41	18
	Simone Benini	80,823	3.48	–		Five Star Movement	102,595	4.74	2
	Domenico Battaglia	10,979	0.47	–		3V Movement	11,187	0.52	–
	Laura Bergamini	10,269	0.44	–		Communist Party	10,287	0.48	–
	Marta Collot	7,029	0.30	–		Power to the People	8,048	0.37	–
	Stefano Lugli	5,983	0.26	–		The Other Emilia-Romagna	7,830	0.36	–
Total candidates		2,325,497	100.00	2	Total parties		2,162,216	100.00	48
Blank and invalid votes		48,477	2.04
Registered voters/turnout		3,508,179	67.67
Source: Ministry of the Interior – Election in Emilia-Romagna

• Emilia-Romagna Region
• Legislative Assembly of Emilia-Romagna
• Constitution of Emilia-Romagna