Politics of Lombardy

Lombardy
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The Politics of Lombardy, Italy, takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democracy, whereby the President of the Region is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Legislative power is vested in the Regional Council of Lombardy, while executive power is exercised by the Regional Government led by the President, who is directly elected by the people. The current Statute, which regulates the functioning of the regional institutions, has been in force since 2008.

Prior to the rise of Fascism, most of the deputies elected in Lombardy were part of the liberal establishment (see Historical Right, Historical Left and Liberals), which governed Italy for decades. Lombardy was also the birthplace of the Italian Labour Party, forerunner of the Italian Socialist Party, and its eastern and northern provinces were an early stronghold of the Italian People's Party. In the 1924 general election, which led Italy to dictatorship, Lombardy was one of the few regions, along with Veneto and Piedmont, which did not return an absolute majority to the National Fascist Party. After World War II Lombardy became a stronghold of the Christian Democracy, since the 1980s in association with the Italian Socialist Party, which was especially strong in Milan.^[1]

Traditionally, Lombardy gives centrist results in elections, reflecting its strong middle class. The Communists and their successors – the Democratic Party of the Left, the Democrats of the Left and the present-day Democratic Party – never prevailed.^[1] In the 1980s Lombardy saw the organisation of a new regionalist party, the Lega Lombarda–Lega Nord (LL–LN).

Lombardy is now a stronghold of the "centre-right coalition" composed of the LN and the liberal conservative Forza Italia (FI), founded by Lombard entrepreneur Silvio Berlusconi. The coalition, which was joined by the LN in 2000, has governed the region since 1995, under three Presidents, Roberto Formigoni (CDU/FI/PdL), Roberto Maroni (LL–LN) and Attilio Fontana (LL–LN).

On 22 October 2017 an autonomy referendum took place in Lombardy: 38.3% of Lombards participated and 95.3% voted "yes".

Legislative branch

Palazzo Lombardia, the seat of the Regional Government, from the outside.

Composition of the Regional Council in 2018:
     LN–Fontana list (30)
     PD (16)
     FI (14)
     M5S (13)
     FdI (3)
     Gori list (2)
     NcI (1)
     EpI (1)

The Regional Council of Lombardy is composed of 80 members. 64 councillors are elected in provincial constituencies by proportional representation using the largest remainder method with a Droop quota and open lists, while 16 councillors (elected in a general ticket) come from a "regional list", including the President-elect. One seat is reserved for the candidate who comes second. If a coalition wins more than 50% of the total seats in the Council with PR, as happened during the 2000 election, only 8 candidates from the regional list will be chosen and the number of those elected in provincial constituencies will be 72. If the winning coalition receives less than 50% of votes, as happened during the 1995 election, special seats are added to the Council to ensure a large majority for the President's coalition.^[2][3][4]

The Council is elected for a five-year term, but, if the President suffers a vote of no confidence, resigns or dies, under the simul stabunt, simul cadent clause introduced in 1999 (literally they will stand together or they will fall together), also the Council is dissolved and a snap election is called.^[5][6]

Executive branch

The Regional Cabinet (Giunta Regionale) is presided by the President of the Region (Presidente della Regione), who is elected for a five-year term, and is currently composed by 16 members: the President and 15 regional ministers (Assessori, literally "aldermen"), including a Vice President (Vice Presidente), while 4 under-secretaries (Sottosegretari) help the President but have not right of vote when the cabinet meets.^[7]

List of Presidents

Main article: List of Presidents of Lombardy

The current President of Lombardy is Attilio Fontana, who is serving for his first term after winning the 2018 regional election.

This is the list of Presidents of Lombardy since 1970. Colours in the number column reflect their political parties.

President			Term of office		Party	Administration	Coalition	Legislature
			Duration in years, months and days
1		Piero Bassetti (Born 1928)	29 July 1970	27 June 1974	DC	Bassetti	DC • PSI • PSDI • PRI	I (1970)
			3 years, 10 months and 30 days
2		Cesare Golfari (1932–1994)	27 June 1974	1 October 1979	DC	Golfari I	DC • PSI • PSDI • PRI
						Golfari II	DC • PSI • PRI	II (1975)
			5 years, 3 months and 5 days
3		Giuseppe Guzzetti (Born 1934)	1 October 1979	17 July 1987	DC	Guzzetti I	DC • PSI • PSDI • PRI
						Guzzetti II	DC • PSI • PSDI • PRI	III (1980)
						Guzzetti III	DC • PSI • PSDI • PRI	IV (1985)
			7 years, 9 months and 17 days
4		Bruno Tabacci (Born 1946)	17 July 1987	31 January 1989	DC	Tabacci	DC • PSI • PSDI • PRI
			1 year, 6 months and 15 days
5		Giuseppe Giovenzana (Born 1940)	31 January 1989	12 December 1992	DC	Giovenzana I	DC • PSI • PSDI • PRI • PLI
						Giovenzana II	DC • PSI • PRI • PLI	V (1990)
			3 years, 10 months and 13 days
6		Fiorella Ghilardotti (1946–2005)	12 December 1992	4 June 1994	PDS	Ghilardotti	DC • PDS • PSI • FdV • PSDI
			1 year, 5 months and 23 days
7		Paolo Arrigoni (Born 1957)	4 June 1994	24 April 1995	LN	Arrigoni	PPI • LN • PDS
			10 months and 20 days
8		Roberto Formigoni (Born 1947)	24 April 1995	18 March 2013	CDU	Formigoni I	Pole for Freedoms (FI • AN • CDU • CCD)	VI (1995)
					FI	Formigoni II	House of Freedoms (FI • LN • AN • CDU • CCD)	VII (2000)
						Formigoni III	House of Freedoms (FI • LN • AN • UDC)	VIII (2005)
					PdL	Formigoni IV	PdL • LN	IX (2010)
			17 years, 10 months and 25 days
9		Roberto Maroni (Born 1955)	18 March 2013	26 March 2018	LN	Maroni	LN • FI • FdI	X (2013)
			5 years and 9 days
10		Attilio Fontana (Born 1952)	26 March 2018	Incumbent	LN	Fontana	LN • FI • FdI	XI (2018)
			6 months and 19 days

Local government

Parties and elections

Latest regional election

Main article: Lombard regional election, 2018

In the latest regional election, which took place on 4 March 2018, Attilio Fontana of the Lega Lombarda–Lega Nord was elected President of Lombardy with the support of centre-right coalition. The election was paired with the 2018 general election.

4 March 2018 Lombard regional election results

Candidate	Regional candidates			Provincial lists						Total
	votes	%	seats	Party		votes	%	swing	seats	party	group
Attilio Fontana	2,793,370	49.75	1	Lega Lombarda—Lega Nord	LN	1,553,514	29.64	16.68	28	29	49
				Forza Italia	FI	750,628	14.32	2.41	14	14
				Brothers of Italy	FdI	190,804	3.64	2.09	3	3
				Fontana List	LF	76,637	1.46	new	1	1
				Us with Italy–UDC	NCI–UDC	66,355	1.26	new	1	1
				Energies for Lombardy	EpI	27,967	0.53	new	1	1
				Pensioners' Party	PP	20,259	0.38	0.56	0	0
Giorgio Gori	1,633,367	29.09	1	Democratic Party	PD	1,008,496	19.24	6.09	15	16	18
				Gori List	LG	158,671	3.02	new	2	2
				More Europe	+E	108,743	2.07	new	0	0
				Lombardy for the Autonomies		62,840	1.19	new	0	0
				Together		35,071	0.66	new	0	0
				Popular Civic List		20,668	0.39	new	0	0
				Progressive Lombardy		20,036	0.38	new	0	0
Dario Violi	974,984	17.36	-	Five Star Movement	M5S	933,243	17.80	3.46	13	13	13
Onorio Rosati	108,407	1.93	-	Free and Equal	LeU	111,296	2.12	new	0	0	-
Angela De Rosa	50,368	0.89	-	CasaPound		45,416	0.86	new	0	0	-
Roberto Massimo Gatti	38,194	0.68	-	Left for Lombardy		35,713	0.68	new	0	0	-
Giulio Arrighini	15,791	0.28	-	Great North		13,769	0.26	new	0	0	-
Total candidates	5,614,481	100.00	2	Total parties		5,240,126	100.00	=	78	80	80

Source: Ministry of the Interior

References

External links

• Lombardy Region
• Regional Council of Lombardy
• Constitution of Lombardy