2006 Sicilian regional election

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2006 Sicilian regional election
Flag of Sicily (revised).svg
  2001 28 May 2006 2008  

All 80 seats to the Sicilian Regional Assembly
Turnout59.17% (Decrease2.svg 4.33%)
 Majority partyMinority party
  Cuffaro foto del18 sett.2006 044.jpg Rita Borsellino.gif
Leader Salvatore Cuffaro Rita Borsellino
Party Union of the Centre Independent
Alliance House of Freedoms The Union
Last election57 seats, 59.1%29 seats, 36.6%
Seats won6228
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 5Decrease2.svg 1
Popular vote1,374,7061,078,179
Percentage53.1%41.6%
SwingDecrease2.svg 6.0%Increase2.svg 5.0%

2006 Sicilian Election.png

President before election

Salvatore Cuffaro
UDC

President-elect

Salvatore Cuffaro
UDC

The 2006 Sicilian regional election for the renewal of the Sicilian Regional Assembly and the Presidency of Sicily was held on 28 May 2006.

Contents

The election was competed by three competitors: Salvatore Cuffaro, incumbent president and House of Freedoms candidate; Rita Borsellino, candidate of The Union; and Nello Musumeci, MEP elected for the National Alliance and now leader of the autonomist movement Sicilian Alliance. In the end, Cuffaro won the election, despite a heavy loss of support compared with five years before, when he was elected with 59.1% of votes.

Candidates

Salvatore Cuffaro, 48, was first elected at the Sicilian Presidency in the July 2001 with 59.1% of regional votes; that election was held immediately after the national election which saw the centre-right win all the 61 Sicilian ridings. Cuffaro is a prominent member of Union of Christian and Centre Democrats, a Christian democratic party. Often associated to the mafia by his critics because of an open investigation by the magistrature of Palermo which brought to a trial commitment, Cuffaro was nevertheless head the regional UDC list of candidates for the April general election.

Rita Borsellino, 61, sister of the late judge Paolo assassinated by the mafia, gained the centre-left candidacy after having won a primary election with over 67% of votes against Ferdinando Latteri. She was not member of any party.

Nello Musumeci, 51, was a former member of the right-wing National Alliance party; he served as President of the Province of Catania from 1994 to 2003. He left National Alliance in September 2005 in order to found a new autonomist party, Sicilian Alliance, of which he was the leader.

Pollster claimed this election to be much closer than five years earlier, and majority of surveys even put Borsellino to lead over Cuffaro. [ permanent dead link ] However, Sicily confirmed one more time in the April 2006 national election, in which the House of Freedoms obtained 57% of regional votes, to be still a centre-right stronghold. The election was in fact characterized by separate contemporary votes for centre-right parties and Rita Borsellino as president, as the sum of centre-right coalition parties obtained over 60% of votes. In any case, the disjoint vote was not sufficient to ensure Borsellino to win the election, and Cuffaro was confirmed president of Sicily.

Results

28 May 2006 Sicilian regional election results
Sicilian Regional Assembly 2006.svg
CandidatesVotes %SeatsPartiesVotes %Seats
Salvatore Cuffaro 1,374,70653.099
Forza Italia 471,63419.1717
Union of Christian and Centre Democrats 319,34912.9811
Movement for AutonomyNew Sicily 308,21912.5310
National Alliance 259,92710.569
The Kite139,3445.666
Tricolour Flame 8,5280.35
Christian Democracy for the Autonomies 6,5300.26
Total1,513,53161.5253
Rita Borsellino 1,078,17941.641
Democrats of the Left 344,55114.0012
Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy 295,76212.0212
United for Sicily (SDIIdVPRCPdCIFdVSicilian Spring)127,9475.203
Rita – My Commitment for Sicily119,1774.84
Total887,43736.0727
Nello Musumeci 136,5455.27 Sicilian Alliance 59,3802.41
Total candidates2,589,430100.0010Total parties2,460,348100.0080
Source: Sicilian Region
Popular vote
FI
19.17%
DS
14.00%
UDC
12.98%
MpANS
12.53%
DL
12.02%
AN
10.56%
LA–LP
5.66%
UpS
5.20%
Rita
4.84%
AS
2.41%
President
Cuffaro
53.09%
Borsellino
41.64%
Musumeci
5.27%

Sources

Candidates

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