Politics of Emilia-Romagna

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]

Executive branch

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]

List of presidents

N.	President	Term of office		Tenure (Years and days)		Composition	Legislature
1	Guido Fanti (1925–2012)	28 July 1970	22 July 1975	5 years, 298 days	Italian Communist Party	PCI–PSIUP	I (1970)
1	Guido Fanti (1925–2012)	22 July 1975	21 May 1976	5 years, 298 days	Italian Communist Party	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	PCI–PSI
		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	PCI	IV (1985)
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	V (1990)
6	Pier Luigi Bersani (1951–)	9 June 1995	28 May 1996	2 years, 328 days	Democratic Party of the Left	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		Democrats of the Left	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		Democratic Party	PD–SEL–PdCI–IdV	IX (2010)
–	Simonetta Saliera (1956– )	8 July 2014	24 November 2014	139 days	Democratic Party	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)
9	Stefano Bonaccini (1967–)	28 February 2020	12 July 2024	9 years, 231 days	Democratic Party	PD–SI–IV–EV	XI (2020)
–	Irene Priolo (1974– )	12 July 2024	13 December 2024	154 days	Democratic Party	PD–SI–IV–EV	XI (2020)
10	Michele De Pascale (1985– )	13 December 2024	Incumbent	10 days	Democratic Party	PD–AVS–M5S	XII (2024)

Legislative branch

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]

Local government

Provinces

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".

Province	Inhabitants^[7]		Party	Election
Bologna	1,012,535	Matteo Lepore	Democratic Party	2021
Ferrara	346,034	Gianni Michele Padovani	Italian Socialist Party	2021
Forlì-Cesena	394,654	Enzo Lattuca	Democratic Party	2021
Modena	702,983	Fabio Braglia	Democratic Party	2023
Parma	451,666	Andrea Massari	Democratic Party	2021
Piacenza	286,731	Monica Patelli	Independent (Democratic Party)	2022
Ravenna	390,433	Michele De Pascale	Democratic Party	2021
Reggio Emilia	532,102	Giorgio Zanni	Democratic Party	2018
Rimini	338,035	Jamil Sadegholvaad	Democratic Party	2022

Municipalities

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]

Provincial capitals

Municipality	Inhabitants^[7]		Party	Election
Bologna (list)	390,198	Matteo Lepore	Democratic Party	2020
Ferrara (list)	132,125	Alan Fabbri	Lega Emilia	2019
Forlì (list)	117,892	Gian Luca Zattini	Independent (Lega Emilia)	2019
Modena (list)	185,045	Massimo Mezzetti	Democratic Party	2024
Parma (list)	197,132	Michele Guerra	Italia in Comune	2022
Piacenza (list)	103,398	Katia Tarasconi	Democratic Party	2022
Ravenna (list)	158,503	Michele De Pascale	Democratic Party	2021
Reggio Emilia (list)	172,196	Marco Massari	Democratic Party	2024
Rimini (list)	150,013	Jamil Sadegholvaad	Democratic Party	2021

Other municipalities with more than 35,000 inhabitants

Municipality	Inhabitants^[7]		Party	Election
Cesena	97,216	Enzo Lattuca	Democratic Party	2022
Carpi	71,281	Riccardo Righi	Democratic Party	2024
Imola	69,924	Marco Panieri	Democratic Party	2020
Faenza	58,863	Massimo Isola	Democratic Party	2020
Sassuolo	40,863	Matteo Mesini	Democratic Party	2024
Casalecchio di Reno	36,509	Matteo Ruggeri	Democratic Party	2024
Cento	35,485	Edoardo Accorsi	Democratic Party	2021
Riccione	35,044	Daniela Angelini	Democratic Party	2022

Parties and elections

Latest regional election

In the latest regional election, which took place on 17–18 November 2024, Michele De Pascale (Democratic Party) was elected President of Emilia-Romagna by a landslide.

17–18 November 2024 Emilia-Romagna regional election results
Candidates		Votes	%	Seats	Parties		Votes	%	Seats
Results by party Results by coalition
	Michele De Pascale	922,150	56.77	1		Democratic Party	641,704	42.94	27
						Greens and Left Alliance	79,236	5.30	3
						Civics with De Pascale for President	57,400	3.84	2
						Five Star Movement	53,075	3.55	1
						Future Emilia-Romagna	25,729	1.72	–
					Total		857,144	57.36	33
	Elena Ugolini	650,935	40.07	1		Brothers of Italy	354,833	23.74	11
						Forza Italia	83,998	5.62	2
						League	78,734	5.27	1
						Civic Network – Ugolini for President	76,988	5.15	1
					Total		594,553	39.79	15
	Federico Serra	31,483	1.94	–		Emilia-Romagna for Peace, Environment and Labour	27,337	1.83	–
	Luca Teodori	19,831	1.22	–		Loyalty Coherence Truth	15,341	1.03	–

Total candidates		1,624,399	100.00	2	Total parties		1,494,375	100.00	48
Blank and invalid votes		35,643
Registered voters/turnout		3,576,427	46.42
Source: Ministry of the Interior – Election in Emilia-Romagna

References

^ Ceccarini, Luigi; Newell, James L. (2019). The Italian General Election of 2018: Italy in Uncharted Territory. Springer. p. 252. ISBN 9783030136178. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
^ Newell, James L. (2010). The Politics of Italy: Governance in a Normal Country. Cambridge University Press. p. 229. ISBN 9781139788892. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
^ Barbieri, Giovanni (2012). "The Northern League in the 'Red Belt' of Italy" (PDF). Bulletin of Italian Politics. 4 (2). University of Glasgow: 277–294. ISSN 1759-3077. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
^ Giunta - ERMES Regione Emilia-Romagna Archived 13 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine
^ La Repubblica – Regional electoral law
^ "Regional Council of Lombardy – 1999 Constitutional law" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2009. Retrieved 6 March 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Bilancio demografico anno 2018 (June 2018)". ISTAT. Retrieved 1 November 2018.

External links

[1] Ceccarini, Luigi; Newell, James L. (2019). The Italian General Election of 2018: Italy in Uncharted Territory. Springer. p. 252. ISBN 9783030136178. Retrieved 15 October 2019.

[2] Newell, James L. (2010). The Politics of Italy: Governance in a Normal Country. Cambridge University Press. p. 229. ISBN 9781139788892. Retrieved 15 October 2019.

[3] Barbieri, Giovanni (2012). "The Northern League in the 'Red Belt' of Italy" (PDF). Bulletin of Italian Politics. 4 (2). University of Glasgow: 277–294. ISSN 1759-3077. Retrieved 15 October 2019.

[4] Giunta - ERMES Regione Emilia-Romagna Archived 13 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine

[5] La Repubblica – Regional electoral law

[6] "Regional Council of Lombardy – 1999 Constitutional law" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2009. Retrieved 6 March 2009.

[istat-7] "Bilancio demografico anno 2018 (June 2018)". ISTAT. Retrieved 1 November 2018.

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