Piedmontese regional election, 2010

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The Piedmontese regional election of 2010 took place on 28–29 March 2010, as part of Italy's round of regional elections.

The incumbent President of the Region, Mercedes Bresso of the centre-left Democratic Party, lost her seat to Roberto Cota, leader of Lega Piemont and floor leader of Lega Nord in the Italian Chamber of Deputies, who was backed also by The People of Freedom.^[1] Cota's lead of Bresso was of only 0.4%, in one of the Region's narrowest elections ever. The League thus secured a second region, after having conquered the presidency of Veneto with Luca Zaia with a much more convincing margin.

Background

Bresso was one of the last bulwarks of the centre-left in Central Italy and thus all the Democratic Party endorsed her in a key test of the coalition's strength after two years in opposition in Rome.

For his part, Cota's choice was a little bit surprising as Piedmont is not really a stronghold for his party, which is much stronger in Veneto and Lombardy. The day after his bid was announced, Cota explained that it is time to rewrite the history of Italian unification, that was led by the Kingdom of Sardinia under the House of Savoy. Cota underlined that Piedmont was once an independent state and told that even Camillo Benso di Cavour did not intend to unify the whole Italian Peninsula and later favoured a federal reform of the new Kingdom of Italy. For these reasons Cota, who is a republican and has no nostalgia of the House of Savoy, says his message will do well in Piedmont and that he will overcome the weakness of Lega Piemont (that usually gets far less votes than Liga Veneta in Veneto and Lega Lombarda in Lombardy). In Cota's view, most of his support will come from industrial workers, including those of Southern descent, and Catholics, embarrassed by Bresso's secularism.^[2]

However, the Union of the Centre, whose main aim in the election was to fight back Lega Nord, chose to support Bresso, turning down the chance of running its own candidate (Michele Vietti was the most likely).^[3] Most Catholic voters disagreed.

Results

Source: Ministry of the Interior – Historical Archive of Elections

References

Elections in Piedmont Regional elections: 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2014 General elections: 1946 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