2005 Piedmontese regional election

2005 Piedmentese regional election

3–4 April 2005
All 60 seats to the Regional Council of Piedmont
Turnout	71.38% ( 0.58%)
Majority party Minority party   Leader Mercedes Bresso Enzo Ghigo Party DS Forza Italia Alliance The Union House of Freedoms Last election 18 seats, 39.5% 40 seats, 51.8% Seats won 38 25 Seat change 20 15 Popular vote 1,226,355 1,133,358 Percentage 50.9% 47.0% Swing 11.4% 4.8%
President before election Enzo Ghigo FI President-elect Mercedes Bresso DS

The 2005 Piedmontese regional election took place on 3–4 April 2005. Mercedes Bresso of the Democrats of the Left defeated the incumbent Enzo Ghigo of Forza Italia.

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 Union		Democrats of the Left	17.7	9	Mercedes Bresso
			Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy	7.9	3
			Communist Refoundation Party	5.5	2
			Federation of the Greens	2.1	1
			Party of Italian Communists	2.1	1
			Italian Democratic Socialists	1.8	1
			Union of Democrats for Europe	—	—
			Italy of Values	—	—
			Others	—	—
	House of Freedoms		Forza Italia	30.8	17	Enzo Ghigo
			National Alliance	11.9	6
			Northern League Piedmont	7.6	3
			Union of Christian and Centre Democrats	4.5	2
			Pensioners' Party	0.7	–
			Greens Greens	0.4	–
			Others	—	—

Results

3–4 April 2005 Piedmontese regional election results

Candidates		Votes	%	Seats	Parties		Votes	%	Seats
	Mercedes Bresso	1,226,355	50.91	12
						Democrats of the Left	411,237	20.10	11
						Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy	211,457	10.34	6
						Communist Refoundation Party	130,776	6.39	4
						Together for Bresso	60,314	2.95	1
						Federation of the Greens	57,516	2.81	1
						Party of Italian Communists	53,359	2.61	1
						Italian Democratic Socialists	49,821	2.44	1
						Italy of Values	31,016	1.52	1
						Union of Democrats for Europe	10,734	0.52	–
						Pensioners for Europe	5,156	0.25	–
					Total		1,021,386	49.93	26
	Enzo Ghigo	1,133,358	47.05	1
						Forza Italia	457,397	22.36	11
						National Alliance	195,318	9.55	5
						Northern League Piedmont	173,020	8.46	4
						Union of Christian and Centre Democrats	93,872	4.59	2
						Greens Greens	23,761	1.16	1
						Consumers' List	23.378	1.14	1
						Socialists and Liberals	16.944	0.83	–
						Pensioners' Party	11,883	0.58	–
					Total		995,573	48.67	24
	Gianfranco Rotondi	24,813	1.03	–		Democratic Ecologists – Christian Democracy	14,255	0.70	–
	Lodovico Ellena	24,454	1.02	–		Social Alternative	14,515	0.71	–
Total candidates		2,408,980	100.00	13	Total parties		2,045,729	100.00	50
Source: Ministry of the Interior – Historical Archive of Elections