Italian regional elections, 2005

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Situation before the election. In blue regions led by House of Freedoms, in red those led by L'Unione.

Situation after the election.

The Italian Regional elections of April 3 and 4, 2005 were a major victory (11-2) for the centre-left coalition L'Unione, led by Romano Prodi. The centre-right coalition, governing in the national government, was defeated in all the regions it held, except for its strongholds in Lombardy and Veneto.

Before the elections, there were allegations of centre-left parties helping the fascist coalition Alternativa Sociale to gather signatures to present their list, as their presence would have been thought to draw votes from the centre-right; some right-wing commentators pointed to grotesque episodes of communists helping fascists to present their list. These allegations remained since unproven. In any case, in no region could the votes from Alternativa Sociale have been enough to change the result, if they had been given to the centre-right candidate.

Due to a series of bureaucratic issues involving the presentation of the list of Alternativa Sociale in Basilicata, the election there would have been held two weeks later. There, the victory of the centre-left coalition brought the tally to 12-2.

[edit] Latium

The defeat in Latium for House of Freedoms, where journalist Piero Marrazzo, candidate of the Union, won the election, was especially important, as the centre-right expected to maintain control of the region. Former president Francesco Storace was subsequently granted the status of Minister of Public Health in the new Berlusconi III government, relieving famed doctor Girolamo Sirchia from Berlusconi II, with criticism from the opposition because his lack of previous experience.

During the electoral campaign, Francesco Storace came out with factual evidence that Alessandra Mussolini's Alternativa Sociale had added fake signatures to real ones to reach the minimum number needed to present a list. However, to demonstrate this, he had someone "hack" into the database of the municipality of Rome in order to verify the signatures: he was therefore nicknamed "Storhacker" by Alessandra Mussolini. It also appeared that someone spied on the left-wing candidate, Piero Marrazzo. [1]

[edit] Apulia

In Apulia, the success of Nichi Vendola came somewhat unexpected. In a southern-Italian region (expected to be morally conservative), Vendola, a communist and a homosexual, defeated the moderate and traditional incumbent Raffaele Fitto. Vendola was the first candidate ever to be appointed by its coalition through a primary election instead of agreements between parties. A defeat of Vendola might have resulted in the cancellation of the primary elections for the national elections of 2006 in the left-wing coalition L'Unione.

[edit] Consequences on national basis

The elections resulted in the national government, led by Silvio Berlusconi, to acknowledge defeat and open a crisis, which resulted in the formation of the Berlusconi III cabinet, with some ministers being substituted.

[edit] Results

Note: The Communist Refoundation Party presented its own candidate in Tuscany, even though it is full member of left-wing coalition The Union, as well as what Socialist Party New PSI, member of right-wing House of Freedoms, did in Umbria.

[edit] External links

• Ministry of Internal Affairs site section about the 2005 Regional Elections (Italian)
• Informative site (Italian)