2000 Piedmontese regional election

The 2000 Piedmontese regional election took place on 16 April 2000. Enzo Ghigo of Forza Italia (FI) was re-elected for the second time in a row as the president of Piedmont, defeating Livia Turco of the Democrats of the Left (DS). His re-election resulted in a landslide, as this time he was also supported also by Lega Nord (Northern League).

2000 Piedmentese regional election

← 1995 16 April 2000 2005 →

All 60 seats to the Regional Council of Piedmont
Turnout71.96% (Decrease 11.02%)
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Enzo Ghigo Livia Turco
Party Forza Italia DS
Alliance Pole for Freedoms The Olive Tree
Last election 33 seats, 39.7% 18 seats, 35.2%
Seats won 40 18
Seat change Increase7 Steady
Popular vote 1,249,840 953,163
Percentage 51.8% 39.5%
Swing Increase1.0%[1] Increase3.7%


President before election

Enzo Ghigo
FI

President-elect

Enzo Ghigo
FI

FI was confirmed as the largest party in the region with an historic 30.8% of the vote, while the DS were the second largest party with 17.7%. Piedmont was confirmed as a stronghold of Bonino List, whose leader Emma Bonino was candidate for president and took 5.7% of the vote.

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
The Olive Tree Democrats of the Left 21.7 11 Livia Turco
Communist Refoundation Party 9.3 4
Italian People's PartyUDEURItalian Renewal 6.2 3
Federation of the Greens 2.7 1
Pensioners' Party 1.6 1
The Democrats
Party of Italian Communists
Italian Democratic Socialists
Pole for Freedoms Forza Italia 26.7 14 Enzo Ghigo
National Alliance 11.2 6
Northern League Piedmont 9.9 5
Christian Democratic Centre 3.0 1
United Christian Democrats
Others
Bonino List 1.6 Emma Bonino

Results

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16 April 2000 Piedmontese regional election results
 
Candidates Votes % Seats Parties Votes % Seats
Enzo Ghigo 1,249,840 51.78 12
Forza Italia 626,907 30.78 17
National Alliance 241,864 11.88 6
Northern League Piedmont 153,935 7.56 3
United Christian Democrats 48,707 2.39 1
Christian Democratic Centre 43,827 2.15 1
Socialist Party 16,283 0.80
The Liberals Sgarbi 5,725 0.28
Christian Democratic Party 2,139 0.11
Total 1,139,387 55.95 28
Livia Turco 953,163 39.49 1
Democrats of the Left 360,826 17.72 9
Communist Refoundation Party 112,489 5.52 2
The Democrats 86,349 4.24 2
Italian People's PartyUDEURItalian Renewal 74,888 3.68 1
Party of Italian Communists 41,930 2.06 1
Federation of the Greens 41,853 2.06 1
Italian Democratic Socialists 36,788 1.81 1
Pensioners' Party 15,964 0.78
Total 771,087 37.87 17
Emma Bonino 138,632 5.74 Bonino List 90,796 4.46 2
Alessandra Calvo 62,288 2.58
Autonomists for Europe 26,639 1.31
Greens Greens 8,498 0.42
Total 35,137 1.73
Antonio Tevere 9,624 0.40 Humanist Party
Total candidates 2,413,547 100.00 13 Total parties 2,036,407 100.00 47
Source: Ministry of the Interior – Historical Archive of Elections

References

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  1. ^ The swing comes from the combined result of the Pole of Freedoms (39.7%) and Lega Nord (11.1%) in the 1995 regional election.