1995 Piedmontese regional election

The 1995 Piedmontese regional election took place on 23 April 1995. For the first time, the president of Piedmont was directly elected by the people; the election was not yet binding and the president-elect could have been replaced during the term.

1995 Piedmentese regional election

← 1990 23 April 1995 2000 →

All 60 seats to the Regional Council of Piedmont
Turnout82.98% (Decrease 5.99%)
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Leader Enzo Ghigo Giuseppe Pichetto Domenico Comino
Party Forza Italia Independent Northern League
Alliance Centre-right Centre-left
Seats won 33 18 5
Popular vote 1,059,602 938,280 296,966
Percentage 39.7% 35.2% 11.1%


President before election

Gian Paolo Brizio
PPI

President-elect

Enzo Ghigo
FI

In an upset, Enzo Ghigo of Forza Italia (FI) was elected president of the region, defeating Giuseppe Pichetto, an independent politician running for the country's centre-left coalition, and Domenico Comino of the Lega Nord (Northern League) regional branch Lega Nord Piemont (Northern League Piedmont). FI, which was founded the year before by Silvio Berlusconi, formed the People's Pole joint list and became the largest party in the region with 26.7% of the vote, while the Democrats of the Left came second with 21.7%.

Electoral system

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Regional elections in Piedmont were ruled by the Tatarella law, which was approved in 1995 and provided for a mixed electoral system. Four fifths of the regional councilors were elected in provincial constituencies by proportional representation, using the largest remainder method with a Droop quota and open lists, while the residual votes and the unassigned seats were grouped into a single regional constituency, where the whole ratios and the highest remainders were divided with the Hare quota among the provincial party lists; one fifth of the council seats instead was reserved for regional lists and assigned with a majoritarian representation system, in which the leader of the regional list that scored the highest number of votes was elected to the presidency of the region, while the other candidates were elected regional councilors.

A threshold of 3% had been established for the provincial lists, which could still have entered the regional council if the regional list to which they were connected had scored at least 5% of valid votes. The panachage was also allowed; the voter can indicate a candidate for the presidency but prefer a provincial list connected to another candidate.

Parties and candidates

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Political party or alliance Constituent lists Previous result Candidate
Votes (%) Seats
Centre-left coalition Italian People's Party 27.9 18 Giuseppe Pichetto
Democratic Party of the Left 22.8 14
Federation of the Greens 6.7 4
Pensioners' Party 1.4 1
Pact of Democrats
Northern League Piedmont 5.1 3 Domenico Comino
Centre-right coalition National Alliance 3.6 2 Enzo Ghigo
Forza Italia
Christian Democratic Centre
Pannella List 1.2 1 Carmelo Palma
Communist Refoundation Party Giovanni Alasia

Results

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23 April 1995 Piedmontese regional election results
 
Candidates Votes % Seats Parties Votes % Seats
Enzo Ghigo 1,059,602 39.70 12
Forza Italia – The People's Pole 588,171 26.71 14
National Alliance 247,103 11.22 6
Christian Democratic Centre 65,099 2.96 1
Total 900,373 40.88 21
Giuseppe Pichetto 938,280 35.16
Democratic Party of the Left 478,615 21.73 11
Italian People's Party 136,664 6.21 3
Pact of Democrats 76,592 3.48 2
Federation of the Greens 59,238 2.69 1
Pensioners' Party 35,162 1.60 1
Populars and Democrats 8,507 0.39
Total 794,778 36.09 18
Domenico Comino 296,966 11.13 Northern League Piedmont 217,194 9.86 5
Giovanni Alasia 248,158 9.30 Communist Refoundation Party 203,842 9.26 4
Carmelo Palma 54,436 2.04
Pannella List 35,899 1.63
Autonomist Front 2,703 0.12
Total 38,602 1.75
Alessandro Lupi 45,428 1.70 Greens Greens 31,145 1.41
Renzo Rabellino 26,006 0.97 Piedmont Nation of Europe 16,356 0.74
Total candidates 2,668,876 100.00 12 Total parties 2,202,290 100.00 48
Source: Ministry of the Interior – Historical Archive of Elections