Politics of Tuscany

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The Politics of Tuscany, Italy, takes place in the 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 Tuscany, while executive power is exercised by the Regional Government led by the President, who is directly elected by the people. The current Statute, which regulates the functioning of the regional institutions, has been in force since 2005.

Prior to the rise of Fascism, most of the deputies elected in Tuscany were part of the liberal establishment, which governed Italy for decades. The eastern and northern provinces of the region were anyway an early stronghold of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). At the 1924 general election, which opened the way to the Fascist authoritarian rule, Tuscany was one of the few regions which did not return an absolute majority to the National Fascist Party (PNF). After World War II, Tuscany became a stronghold of the Italian Communist Party (PCI), which was especially strong in rural areas.

Traditionally, Tuscany returns big majorities to the left during elections. The PCI and its successors won all the regional and general elections. The region is now a stronghold of the centre-left coalition led by the Democratic Party, which is by far the largest party. The coalition has governed the region since 1995. The current President, Enrico Rossi, has been President since 2010.

Legislative branch

The Regional Council of Tuscany is composed of 55 members. 34 councillors are elected in provincial constituencies by proportional representation using the largest remainder method with a Droop quota and open lists, while 20 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.

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.

2010–2015 composition

Distribution of Seats in the Regional Council
Political Group 2010 Now
Democratic Party (PD) 24 24
People of Freedom (PdL) 17 16
Italy of Values 5 5
Federation of the Left – Greens 3 3
Lega Nord 3 2
Union of the Centre (UDC) 2 2
Mixed Group - 3

Source: Regional Council of Tuscany

Executive branch

Main article: President of Tuscany

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 10 members: the President and 9 regional assessors (Assessori, literally "aldermen"), including a Vice President (Vice Presidente), while under-secretaries (Sottosegretari) help the President but have not right of vote when the cabinet meets.[1]

2010–2015 composition

Party Members
Democratic Party President and a 5 assessors
Italy of Values 2 assessors
Italian Socialist Party 1 assessor
Federation of the Left 1 assessor
Independent 1 assessor

List of Presidents

The current President of Tuscany is Enrico Rossi, who is serving his first term after winning the 2010 regional election.

Local government

Provinces

Tuscany is divided in ten 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 eastern rural provinces, especially Siena and Arezzo, while Christian Democracy used to be strong in the north-western part of the Region.

The city of Florence is now one of major national strongholds of Democratic Party. The Province of Siena is also called the "red province of Italy", because the Italian Communist Party has always governed it with the 60% of the votes since 1945 to its dissolution in 1991.

Province Inhabitants established President Party Election
Arezzo 348,327 1826 Roberto Vasai Democratic Party 2009
Florence 991,862 1848 Andrea Barducci Democratic Party 2009
Grosseto 227,063 1766 Leonardo Marras Democratic Party 2009
Livorno 341,453 1861 Giorgio Kutufà Democratic Party 2009
Lucca 392,182 1849 Stefano Baccelli Democratic Party 2011
Massa 203,642 1859 Osvaldo Angeli Democratic Party 2008
Pisa 414,154 1849 Andrea Pieroni Democratic Party 2009
Pistoia 292,108 1927 Federica Fratoni Democratic Party 2009
Prato 248,174 1992 Lambarto Nazzareno Gestri Democratic Party 2009
Siena 270,333 1849 Simone Bezzini Democratic Party 2009

Municipalities

Tuscany is also divided in 287 comuni (municipalities), which have even more history, having been established in the Middle Ages when they were the main places of government. 13 comuni have more than 50,000 inhabitants, of which all but one are ruled by the centre-left.

Municipality Inhabitants Mayor Party Election
Florence 370,702 Dario Nardella Democratic Party 2014
Prato 187,994 Matteo Biffoni Democratic Party 2014
Livorno 161,084 Filippo Nogarin Five Stars Movement 2014
Arezzo 100,140 Giuseppe Fanfani Democratic Party 2011
Pistoia 90,226 Samuele Bertinelli Democratic Party 2012
Pisa 88,332 Marco Filippeschi Democratic Party 2008
Lucca 84,928 Alessandro Tambellini Democratic Party 2012
Grosseto 82,284 Emilio Bonifazi Democratic Party 2011
Massa 71,006 Alessandro Volpi Democratic Party 2013
Carrara 65,612 Angelo Zubbani Italian Socialist Party 2012
Viareggio 64,564 Leonardo Betti Democratic Party 2013
Siena 54,561 Bruno Valentini Democratic Party 2013
Scandicci 50,304 Sandro Fallani Democratic Party 2014

Parties and elections

Main articles: List of political parties in Tuscany and Elections in Tuscany

Latest regional election

In the latest regional election, which took place on 28–29 March 2010, Enrico Rossi the Democratic Party defeated by a landslide his centre-right opponent Monica Faenzi. The Democrats were by far the largest party, albeit losing ground from previous elections.

 
Candidates Regional lists Provincial lists Total
votes % seats Parties votes % swing seats party group
Enrico Rossi 1,055,751 59.73 13 Democratic Party 641,214 42.20 -6.6 19 24 32
Italy of Values 143,194 9.42 +8.5 - 5
Federation of the Left–Greens 80,017 5.27 -5.7 - 3
Left Ecology Freedom 57,815 3.81 new -
Monica Faenzi 608,680 34.44 6 The People of Freedom 412,118 27.12 -1.0 11 16 19
Lega Nord Toscana 98,523 6.48 +3.2 2 3
Francesco Bosi 81,106 4.59 1 Union of the Centre 72,548 4.77 +1.1 1 2 2
Alfonso De Virgilis 13,892 0.79 - Bonino-Pannella List 8,414 0.55 new - - -
Ilario Palmisani 7,980 0.45 - New Force 5,588 0.37 new - - -
Total candidates 1,767,409 100.0 20 Total parties 1,519,431 100.00 = 33 53 53

Source: Regione Toscana – Historical Archive of Elections

References

  1. ↑ http://www.regione.toscana.it/giunta/index.html

External links