Politics of Sardinia

The Politics of Sardinia (Sardinia, Italy) takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democracy, whereby the President of Regional Government is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the Regional Government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Regional Council of Sardinia.

Legislative branch

Main article: Regional Council of Sardinia

Regional Council of Sardinia

The Regional Council of Sardinia (Consiglio Regionale della Sardegna) is composed of 60 members. The Assembly is elected for a five-year term, but, if the President suffers a vote of no confidence, resigns or dies, under the simul stabunt vel simul cadent clause, also the Assembly will be dissolved and there will be a fresh election.

Executive branch

The Regional Government (Giunta Regionale) is presided by the President of the Region (Presidente della Regione), who is elected for a five-year term, and is composed by the President and the Ministers (Assessori), who are currently 12. ^[1]

List of presidents

Main article: List of presidents of Sardinia

Elected by the Regional Council (1949–1994)

№	Name	Term of office		Political party		Legislature
1	Luigi Crespellani	31 May 1949	3 July 1953		DC	I (1949)
		3 July 1953	21 January 1954			II (1953)
2	Alfredo Corrias	21 January 1954	21 June 1955		DC
3	Giuseppe Brotzu	21 June 1955	2 July 1957		DC
		2 July 1957	13 November 1958			III (1957)
4	Efisio Corrias	13 November 1958	3 July 1961		DC
		3 July 1961	3 July 1965			IV (1961)
		3 July 1965	16 March 1966			V (1965)
5	Paolo Dettori	16 March 1966	14 February 1967		DC
6	Giovanni Del Rio	14 February 1967	3 July 1969		DC
		3 July 1969	2 February 1970			VI (1969)
7	Lucio Abis	2 February 1970	5 January 1971		DC
8	Antonio Giagu De Martini	5 January 1971	11 February 1972		DC
9	Pietro Soddu	11 February 1972	18 March 1972		DC
10	Salvator Angelo Spanu	18 March 1972	7 December 1972		DC
(8)	Antonio Gagiu De Martini	7 December 1972	10 December 1973		DC
(6)	Giovanni Del Rio	10 December 1973	3 July 1974		DC
		3 July 1974	8 May 1976			VII (1974)
(9)	Pietro Soddu	8 May 1976	31 July 1979		DC
11	Mario Puddu	31 July 1979	25 September 1979		DC	VIII (1979)
12	Alessandro Ghinami	15 September 1979	7 October 1980		PSDI
(9)	Pietro Soddu	7 October 1980	12 November 1980		DC
(11)	Mario Puddu	12 November 1980	4 December 1980		DC
13	Francesco Rais	4 December 1980	18 May 1982		PSI
14	Mario Melis	18 May 1982	16 June 1982		PSd'Az
15	Angelo Rojch	16 June 1982	24 August 1984		DC
(14)	Mario Melis	24 August 1984	8 August 1989		PSd'Az	IX (1984)
16	Mario Floris	8 August 1989	13 November 1991		DC	X (1989)
17	Antonello Cabras	13 November 1991	5 August 1994		PSI

Directly-elected presidents (since 1994) ^[a]

N.	Portrait	President	Term of office		Tenure (Years and days)	Party		Coalition	Legislature	Ref.
18		Federico Palomba (1937– )	5 August 1994	9 August 1999	5 years, 4 days		PDS	PDS–PRC–FD	XI (1994)
19		Mauro Pili (1966– )	9 August 1999	18 October 1999	70 days		FI	FI–AN–RS–CCD	XII (1999)
20		Gian Mario Selis (1944– )	18 October 1999	16 November 1999	29 days		PPI	PDS–PPI–FD–Dem–SDI–PRC
(16)		Mario Floris (1937– )	16 November 1999	25 October 2001	1 year, 343 days		UDR	PDS–DL–UDR–FD–Dem–SDI–PRC
(19)		Mauro Pili (1966– )	25 October 2001	28 August 2003	1 year, 307 days		FI	FI–AN–RS–CCD
21		Italo Masala (1937– )	28 August 2003	26 June 2004	303 days		AN
22		Renato Soru (1957– )	26 June 2004	27 February 2009	4 years, 246 days		DS PD	PD–PS–PRC–SDI–UDEUR–PdCI–IdV	XIII (2004)
23		Ugo Cappellacci (1960– )	27 February 2009	12 March 2014	5 years, 13 days		PdL FI	PdL–UDC–RS–PSd'Az	XIV (2009)
24		Francesco Pigliaru (1954– )	12 March 2014	20 March 2019	5 years, 8 days		PD	PD–SEL–PdS–RM–CD–PRC– UPC–PSI–IdV–FdV–iRS–LB	XV (2014)
25		Christian Solinas (1976– )	20 March 2019	20 March 2024	5 years, 0 days		PSd'AZ	Lega–PSd'Az–FI–RS–FdI–UDC	XVI (2019)
26		Alessandra Todde (1969– )	20 March 2024	Incumbent	1 year, 180 days		M5S	PD–M5S–AVS–OC–PP–SF–PSI	XVII (2024)	[2]

Local government

Provinces

Sardinia is divided into 4 provinces (Sassari, Nuoro, Oristano, and Sud Sardegna) and 1 Metropolitan city (Cagliari)

Extraordinary Administrators

Province	Extraordinary Administrator	Appointed
Sassari	Gavino Salvatore Eugenio Arru	September 19th, 2024
Nuoro	Giuseppe Ciccolini	September 19th, 2024
Oristano	Battistino Ghisu	September 19th, 2024
Sud Sardegna	Vincenzo Basciu	September 19th, 2024

Municipalities

Sardinia is also divided in 377 comuni (municipalities), which have even more history, having been established in the Middle Ages when they were the main places of government.

Provincial capitals

Municipality	Inhabitants	Mayor		Party	Election
Cagliari	154,106		Paolo Truzzu	Brothers of Italy	2019
Nuoro	36,316		Andrea Soddu	Independent	2015
Oristano	31,750		Andrea Lutzu	Forza Italia	2017
Sassari	127,018		Nanni Campus	Independent (centre-right)	2019

Others with 25,000+ inhabitants

Municipality	Inhabitants	Mayor		Party	Election
Quartu Sant'Elena	70,453		Graziano Ernesto Milia	Independent (centre-left)	2020
Olbia	60,432		Settimo Nizzi	Forza Italia	2016
Alghero	43,964		Mario Conoci	Sardinian Action Party	2019
Selargius	28,666		Pier Luigi Concu	Forza Italia	2017
Carbonia	28,103		Paola Massidda	Five Star Movement	2016
Assemini	26,774		Sabrina Licheri	Five Star Movement	2018
Iglesias	26,678		Mauro Usai	Independent (centre-left)	2018

Political parties and elections

Main articles: List of political parties in Sardinia and Elections in Sardinia

Latest regional election

Main article: 2024 Sardinian regional election

The latest regional election took place on 25 February 2024. Alessandra Todde of the Five Star Movement, at the head of a centre-left coalition centred on the Democratic Party, narrowly defeated Paolo Truzzu of Brothers of Italy, who replaced incumbent president Christian Solinas of the Sardinian Action Party as standard-bearer of the centre-right coalition. In a fragmented party system, with the presence of several regional and/or Sardinian nationalist parties, the Democratic Party was narrowly ahead of Brothers of Italy as largest party.

25 February 2024 Sardinia regional election results

Results by party Results by coalition
Candidates		Votes	%	Seats	Parties		Votes	%	Seats
	Alessandra Todde	334,160	45.4	1		Democratic Party	95,285	13.8	11
						Five Star Movement	53,613	7.8	7
						Greens and Left Alliance	32,145	4.7	4
						United for Alessandra Todde	27,422	4.0	3
						Shared Horizon	20,984	3.0	3
						Progressive Party	20,868	3.0	3
						Future Left	20,574	3.0	3
						Italian Socialist Party – SIE	11,637	1.7	1
						Fortza Paris	6,068	0.9	–
						Solidary Democracy	4,692	0.7	–
					Total		293,288	42.5	36
	Paolo Truzzu	331,099	45.0	1		Brothers of Italy	93,921	13.6	7
						Sardinian Reformers	49,629	7.2	3
						Forza Italia	43,892	6.4	3
						Sardinia in the Centre 2020	37,950	5.5	3
						Sardinian Action Party	37,341	5.4	3
						Sardinia Alliance – PLI	28,203	4.1	2
						League Sardinia	25,957	3.8	1
						Union of the Centre	19,237	2.8	1
						Christian Democracy with Rotondi	2,110	0.3	–
					Total		333,873	48.4	23
	Renato Soru	63,666	8.7	–		Sardinia Project	23,872	3.5	–
						Vote Sardinia	10,830	1.6	–
						Action – More Europe – LDE – UPC	10,577	1.5	–
						Liberu	4,993	0.7	–
						Communist Refoundation Party	4,534	0.7	–
					Total		54,569	7.9	–
	Lucia Chessa	7,261	1.0	–		Sardigna R-Esiste (incl. Red Moors)	4,067	0.6	–
Invalid votes		21,412	–
Total candidates		736,186	100.00	2	Total parties		690.401	100.00	58
Registered voters		1,447,753
Source: Autonomous Region of Sardinia – Results

Notes

1. Until 2004, Presidents could resign or lose a vote of confidence, and be replaced by the Regional Council.

References

1. Regione Autonoma della Sardegna - Regione - Giunta - Composizione
2. Giuffrida, Angela (27 February 2024). "Sardinia elects leftwing president, in blow to Giorgia Meloni". The Guardian . Retrieved 12 April 2025.

External links

• Sardinia Region
• Regional Council of Sardinia
• Constitution of Sardinia