2000 Tuscan regional election

The Tuscan regional election of 2000 took place on 16 April 2000.

2000 Tuscan regional election

16 April 2000
All 50 seats to the Regional Council
Majority party Minority party   Leader Claudio Martini Altero Matteoli Party Democrats of the Left National Alliance Alliance The Olive Tree House of Freedoms Last election 33 13 Seats won 32 16 Seat change 1 3 Popular vote 1,029,142 836,001 Percentage 49.3% 40.0% Swing 0.8% 4.0%
President before election Vannino Chiti Democrats of the Left Elected President Claudio Martini Democrats of the Left

Electoral law

Tuscany used the national Tatarella Law to elect its Council. Forty councillors are elected in provincial constituencies by proportional representation using the largest remainder method with a Droop quota and open lists; remaining seats and votes are grouped at regional level where a Hare quota is used, and then distributed to provincial party lists.

Ten councillors are elected at-large using a general ticket: parties are grouped in alliances, and the alliance which receives a plurality of votes elects all its candidates, its leader becoming the President of Lombardy. If an alliance wins more than 60% of votes, only five candidates from the regional list will be chosen and the number of those elected in provincial constituencies will be 45; if the winning alliance receives less than 50% of votes, special seats are added to the Council to ensure a large majority for the President's coalition.

Results

1999 European election marked a turning point in relations between Forza Italia and the Lega Nord. In fact, the assembly works in Parliament had highlighted a growing programmatic convergence between the two parties. And so, in view of the 2001 general election, Berlusconi and Umberto Bossi put aside the old, and even bloody quarrels, and formed a new coalition: the House of Freedoms, which found in the regional elections, also in Tuscany, its first test. So the center-right candidate, Altero Matteoli, an important figure on the national landscape, was sustained also by the Lega Nord, which in 1995 had sustained Chiti.

The combination of what were the major forces of regional politics, securing an appointment to Claudio Martini, which ensured stability of the Regional Cabinet that the new regulations wanted to coincide in term with the legislature. Democrats of the Left was confirmed as the largest party in the region with 36% of the vote, while Forza Italia was the second largest party with 20%. The Olive Tree, an alliance comprising several centre-left parties including the Italian People's Party, the Democrats of the Left, The Democrats, the Federation of the Greens and Party of Italian Communists, had a reconfirmation but lost votes.

Like 1995 election, Communist Refoundation Party run lonely with its candidate.

16 April 2000 Tuscan regional election results

Candidates		Votes	%	Seats	Parties		Votes	%	Seats
	Claudio Martini	1,029,142	49.30	10
						Democrats of the Left	708,750	36.20	17
						Italian People's Party	71,195	3.64	1
						The Democrats	64,606	3.30	1
						Party of Italian Communists	59,258	3.03	1
						Federation of the Greens	42,269	2.16	1
						Italian Democratic Socialists – Italian Republican Party	36,413	1.86	1
						Union of Democrats for Europe	2,406	0.12	–
					Total		984,897	50.30	22
	Altero Matteoli	839,001	40.05	1
						Forza Italia	395,946	20.22	8
						National Alliance	291,200	14.87	5
						United Christian Democrats	40,692	2.08	1
						Christian Democratic Centre	40,476	2.07	1
						Socialist Party	11,956	0.61	–
						Lega Nord Toscana	11,256	0.57	–
						Tuscan Autonomist Movement	2,176	0.11	–
						The Liberals-Sgarbi	853	0.04	–
					Total		794,555	40.58	15
	Niccolò Pecorini	159,862	7.66	–		Communist Refoundation Party	131,471	6.71	2
	Tommaso Fattori	49,358	2.36	–		Bonino List	40,496	2.07	–
	Paolo Vecchi	12,950	0.62	–		Humanist Party	6,722	0.34	–
Total candidates		2,087,313	100.00	11	Total parties		1,958,141	100.00	39
Source: Ministry of the Interior – Historical Archive of Elections

References