Politics of Lombardy

Lombardy
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The Politics of Lombardy, Italy, takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democracy, whereby the President of the Region is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Legislative power is vested in the Regional Council of Lombardy, while executive power is exercised by the Regional Government led by the President, who is directly elected by the people. The current Statute is in force since 2008. Roberto Formigoni has been President since 1995.

Although many local authorities of Lombardy, as all Italy, were ruled the Liberal-conservative coalition that governed the country prior to the rise of Fascism, the region was also the birthplace of the Italian Labour Party, forerunner of the Italian Socialist Party and its eastern and northern provinces were an early stronghold of the Italian People's Party. In the 1924 general election, which led Italy to dictatorship, Lombardy was one of the few regions which did not return an absolute majority to the National Fascist Party during the which led Italy to dictatorship. After World War II Lombardy became a stronghold of the Christian Democracy, since the 1980s in association with the Italian Socialist Party, which was especially strong in Milan.^[1]

Traditionally, Lombardy gives centrist results during elections, reflecting its strong middle class. The Communists and their successors (the Democratic Party of the Left, the Democrats of the Left and the present-day Democratic Party) never won in the region.^[1] In the 1980s Lombardy saw the organization of a new regionalist party, Lega Lombarda (later Lega Nord), that would have played a major role in Italian politics since the early 1990s. Lombardy is now a stronghold of the centre-right coalition between The People of Freedom, the largest party in the region, founded by Lombard entrepreneur Silvio Berlusconi, and Lega Nord. The coalition has governed the region since 1995, although Lega Nord joined the regional government only in 2000.

Legislative branch

Palazzo Lombardia, the seat of the Regional Council, from the outside.

Composition of the Regional Council:
     LN–Maroni list (27)
     FI–NCD (19)
     PD (17)
     M5S (9)
     Ambrosoli list (5)
     FdI (2)
     PP (1)

The Regional Council of Lombardy is composed of 80 members. 64 councillors are elected in provincial constituencies by proportional representation using the largest remainder method with a Droop quota and open lists, while 16 councillors (elected in a general ticket) 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, as happened during the 2000 election, only 8 candidates from the regional list will be chosen and the number of those elected in provincial constituencies will be 72. If the winning coalition receives less than 50% of votes, as happened during the 1995 election, special seats are added to the Council to ensure a large majority for the President's coalition.^[2][3][4]

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 prevision introduced in 1999 (literally they will stand together or they will fall together), also the Council is dissolved and a snap election is called.^[5][6]

2013–2018 composition

Source: Regional Council of Lombardy

Executive branch

The Regional Cabinet (Giunta Regionale) is presided by the President of the Region (Presidente della Regione), who is elected for a five-year term, and is currently composed by 16 members: the President and 15 regional assessors (Assessori, literally "aldermen"), including a Vice President (Vice Presidente), while 4 under-secretaries (Sottosegretari) help the President but have not right of vote when the cabinet meets.^[7]

2013–2018 composition

List of Presidents

The current President of Lombardy is Roberto Maroni, who is serving for his first term after winning the 2013 regional election.

Local government

Provinces

Lombardy is divided in twelve provinces, which are a traditional form of local administration in the region, the first ones being yet established under Habsburg rule by Maria Theresa of Austria in the 18th century. Socialist and Christian-democratic 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 south-eastern agricultural provinces near Emilia, especially in the Province of Mantua, while Christian Democracy obtained high scores in the northern mountainous part of the Region, where nowadays Lega Lombarda–Lega Nord gets a strong backing. The city of Milan is one of major national strongholds of The People of Freedom, although in the latest municipal election the left-wing prevailed.

Municipalities

Lombardy is also divided in 1,546 comuni (municipalities), which have even more history, having been established in the Middle Ages when they were the main places of government. 15 comuni have more than 50,000 inhabitants, most of which are ruled by the centre-left.

Parties and elections

Latest regional election

In the latest regional election, which took place on 24–25 February 2013, Roberto Maroni of Lega Lombarda–Lega Nord was elected President of Lombardy with the support of The People of Freedom. The election was the first snap election in Lombard political history and the first one paired with a senatorial election.

Candidates	Regional candidates			Provincial lists					Total
	votes	%	seats	Parties	votes	%	swing	seats	party	group
Roberto Maroni	2,456,921	42.82	1	The People of Freedom	904,742	16.73	15.1	19	19	49
				Lega Lombarda–Lega Nord	700,907	12.96	13.2	15	16
				Maroni President	552,863	10.23	new	11	11
				Brothers of Italy	83,810	1.55	new	2	2
				Pensioners' Party	50,843	0.94	0.7	1	1
				Labour and Freedom List	27,374	0.51	new	0	0
				Ecological Alliance	8,270	0.15	new	0	0
Umberto Ambrosoli	2,194,169	38.24	1	Democratic Party	1,369,440	25.33	2.4	17	17	22
				Ambrosoli List – Civic Pact	380,241	7.03	new	4	5
				Left Ecology Freedom	97,627	1.81	0.4	-	-
				Lombard Popular Centre	63,885	1.18	new	0	0
				Ethical to Left	52,152	0.96	new	0	0
				Italy of Values	35,141	0.65	5.6	0	0
				Italian Socialist Party	16,624	0.31	0.0	0	0
Silvana Carcano	782,007	13.63	-	Five Star Movement	775,211	14.34	12.0	9	9	9
Gabriele Albertini	236,597	4.12	-	Civic Lombardy	133,435	2.47	new	0	0	-
				Union of the Centre	85,721	1.59	2.2	0	0
Carlo Pinardi	68,133	1.19	-	Act to Stop the Decline	68,469	1.27	new	0	0	-
Total candidates	5,737,827	100.00	2	Total parties	5,406,755	100.00	=	78	80	80

Source: Region Lombardy

Elections in Lombardy Regional elections 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2013 General elections 1946 1948 1953 1958 1963 1968 1972 1976 1979 1983 1987 1992 1994 1996 2001 2006 2008 2013 Senate elections 1948 1953 1958 1963 1968 1972 1976 1979 1983 1987 1992 1994 1996 2001 2006 2008 2013 European Parliament elections 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014

References

External links

• Lombardy Region
• Regional Council of Lombardy
• Constitution of Lombardy

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