The 2019

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

ese regional election took place on 26 May 2019, the same day as the European Parliament election in Italy. The election was for all 50 members of the

Regional Council of Piedmont The Regional Council of Piedmont (''Consiglio Regionale del Piemonte'') is the legislative assembly of Piedmont. It was first elected in 1970, when the ordinary regions were instituted, on the basis of the Constitution of Italy of 1948. Compo ...

, as well as for the President of the Region, who is also a member of the Council.

Electoral system

Regional elections in Piedmont 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 Provincial may refer to: Government & Administration * Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country * Provincial city (disambiguation) * Provincial minister (disambiguation) * Provincial Secretary, a position in Can ...

constituencies by

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

, using the

largest remainder method The largest remainder method (also known as Hare–Niemeyer method, Hamilton method or as Vinton's method) is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems. It contrasts with various ...

with a

droop quota The Droop quota is the quota most commonly used in elections held under the single transferable vote (STV) system. It is also sometimes used in elections held under the largest remainder method of party-list proportional representation (list PR) ...

and

open list Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a party's candidates are elected. This is as opposed to closed list, which allows only active members, p ...

s, 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 In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

: 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 Regional Council may refer to: * Regional Council (Hong Kong), disbanded in 1999 ** Regional Council (constituency) Regional council may refer to: * Regional council (Cameroon) * Regional council (France), the elected assembly of a region of Fra ...

if the regional list to which they were connected had scored at least 5% of valid votes. The ''

panachage Panachage (, from French meaning "blend, mixture") is the name given to a procedure provided for in several open-list variants of the party-list proportional representation system. It gives voters more than one vote in the same ballot and allows ...

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

Background

Sergio Chiamparino Sergio Chiamparino (born 1 September 1948) is an Italian politician. He was President of Piedmont from 2014 to 2019, and was the mayor of Turin, Italy from 2001 to 2011. A graduate in political sciences at the University of Turin, where he worke ...

is the outgoing

President of Piedmont The president of Piedmont is the head of the government of the region. The presidents elected between 1970 and 1995 were elected by the Regional Council of Piedmont. Later they were directly elected by the population. This is the list of presiden ...

for the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, and although he initially stated in June to not run for a second term, he finally declared he will run in the next regional election. He supported the joint candidacy of

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. Th ...

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

and

Cortina d'Ampezzo Cortina d'Ampezzo (; lld, Anpezo, ; historical de-AT, Hayden) is a town and ''comune'' in the heart of the southern (Dolomites, Dolomitic) Alps in the Province of Belluno, in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. Situated on the Boite (river), ...

for the

2026 Winter Olympics The 2026 Winter Olympics, officially the XXV Olympic Winter Games ( it, XXV Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Milano Cortina 2026 ( lld, Milano-Anpezo 2026 or ), is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place fro ...

before

Chiara Appendino Chiara Appendino (born 12 June 1984) is an Italian politician and sports manager, mayor of Turin and the Turin metropolitan city from 30 June 2016 to 27 October 2021 and vice president of the Italian Tennis Federation from 2 October 2020. She is ...

mayor of Turin The mayor of Turin (Italian: ''sindaco di Torino'') is an elected politician who, along with the Turin City Council of 40 members, is accountable for the government of Turin, Piedmont, Italy. The current mayor is Stefano Lo Russo, a university ...

for the

Five Star Movement The Five Star Movement ( it, Movimento 5 Stelle , M5S) is a political party in Italy. Its leader and president is Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy from 2018 until 2021. The M5S was founded on 4 October 2009 by Beppe Grillo, a comedian a ...

, decided to withdraw from the bidding process. He supported the

Turin–Lyon high-speed railway The Turin–Lyon high-speed railway is an international rail line under construction between the cities of Turin and Lyon. It is intended to link the Italian and French high-speed rail networks and will be long. The core of the project is it ...

and criticized the

Conte Cabinet The first Conte government was the 65th government of the Italian Republic. It was led by Giuseppe Conte, an independent, and it was in office from 1 June 2018 to 5 September 2019. The cabinet was formed by a coalition between the Five Star Mo ...

for its opposition, led mainly by the Five Star Movement. Finally, he advocated a referendum about the Turin-Lyon on the same day as the regional election and asked to the

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

Matteo Salvini Matteo Salvini (; born 9 March 1973) is an Italian politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of Infrastructure and Transport since 2022. He has been Federal Secretary of Italy's Lega Nord (Northern League) party ...

to allow it, but both the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Giuseppe Conte Giuseppe Conte (; born 8 August 1964) is an Italian jurist, academic, and politician who served as prime minister of Italy from June 2018 to February 2021. He has been the president of the Five Star Movement (M5S) since August 2021. Conte sp ...

and the Minister Salvini rejected the idea. The centre-right had some troubles to reach an agreement for a unitary candidate.

Alberto Cirio Alberto Cirio (born 6 December 1972) is an Italian politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Italy from 2014 to 2019. He is a member of the centre-right Forza Italia. Biography He studied law at the University of Turin. Cirio s ...

, current

MEP MEP may refer to: Organisations and politics * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, a political party in Sri Lanka * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (1956), a former political alliance in Sri Lanka * Maison européenne de la photographie, a photography centre ...

, was the candidate proposed by

Forza Italia Forza ItaliaThe name is not usually translated into English: ''forza'' is the second-person singular imperative of ''forzare'', in this case translating to "to compel" or "to press", and so means something like "Forward, Italy", "Come on, Ital ...

, but the

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

opposed his candidacy, proposing instead the entrepreneur Paolo Damilano. After the regional election in Basilicata, the center-right agreed to the candidacy of Cirio. Alberto Cirio was the former deputy mayor for

Alba ''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed into the Kingdom ...

and former regional assessor for

, he was elected for the European election of 2014 in the North-West Italy constituency with 35.388 votes and he backed the Turin–Lyon high-speed railway. In June 2018, along with 50 regional councillors, he was committed to stand trial on charges of misappropriating €20,000 of public funds, during 2008 and 2010, under the presidency of

Mercedes Bresso Mercedes Bresso (born 12 July 1944) is an Italian politician (Democratic Party) who served as Member of the European Parliament from 2014 until 2019. Early life and career Bresso was born in Sanremo, Province of Imperia, Liguria. In 1969, sh ...

. However, next February the Turin public prosecutor's office filed a motion to dismiss. The candidate for the presidency of Piedmont for the Five Star Movement was voted on the party website, and with 1,540 votes Giorgio Bertola, outgoing regional councillor for Piedmont, won the primary election. He strongly opposed the Turin-Lyon and the referendum proposed by Chiamparino.

Parties and candidates

Debates

There were seven presidential debates held across Piedmont (and, in one case, in Veneto) during the electoral campaign.

Opinion polls

Results

References

{{Elections in Piedmont Elections in Piedmont 2019 elections in Italy May 2019 events in Italy

Electoral system

Background

Parties and candidates

Debates

Opinion polls

Results

See also

References