2000 Piedmontese regional election

2000 Piedmentese regional election

←  1995 16 April 2000 2005  →
All 60 seats to the Regional Council of Piedmont
Turnout	71.96% ( 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 7 Popular vote 1,249,840 953,163 Percentage 51.8% 39.5% Swing 1.0% [1] 3.7%
President before election Enzo Ghigo FI President-elect Enzo Ghigo FI

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).

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

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
	The Olive Tree		Democrats of the Left	21.7	11	Livia Turco
			Communist Refoundation Party	9.3	4
			Italian People's Party – UDEUR – Italian 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

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 Party–UDEUR–Italian 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

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.