1995 Piedmontese regional election

1995 Piedmentese regional election

←  1990 23 April 1995 2000  →
All 60 seats to the Regional Council of Piedmont
Turnout	82.98% ( 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

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.

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

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

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

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