2019 Basilicata regional election

The 2019 Basilicata regional election took place on 24 March 2019.[1] The election was for all 20 members of the Regional Council of Basilicata, as well as for the President of the Region, who is also a member of the Council. This election was the last one in Italy before the European election of 26 May 2019.[2]

2019 Basilicata regional election

24 March 2019
All 21 seats to the Regional Council of Basilicata
Turnout	53.52% ( 3.92%)
Majority party Minority party Third party   Candidate Vito Bardi Carlo Trerotola Antonio Mattia Party Forza Italia Independent[lower-alpha 1] Five Star Movement Alliance Centre-right coalition Centre-left coalition None Seats won 13 5 3 Seat change 8 8 1 Popular vote 124,716 97,866 60,070 Percentage 42.2% 33.1% 20.3% Swing 22.8% 26.5% 7.1%
President before election Flavia Franconi (acting) PD Elected President Vito Bardi FI

The original election date was 26 May 2019, but a snap election was called upon the resignation of the incumbent President Marcello Pittella, a member of the Democratic Party (PD), on 24 January 2019. After the subsequent dissolution of the Regional Council, Vice President Flavia Franconi (PD) became acting President.

The centre-left coalition had won each regional election in Basilicata since 1995 with a large margin. However, in the general election of 4 March 2018 both the centre-right coalition and the M5S substantially improved their performance: the center-right, for the first time, tied with the center-left (including LeU, which in 2018 was not a member of the coalition led by PD) and the M5S won about double the votes gained by the PD and LeU combined.[3]

Electoral law

In addition to the newly elected President, the candidate for President of the coalition who ranks second automatically gains one seat (the first of his coalition or single party list), in the Regional Council, according to the Tatarella Law of 1995. The remaining 19 seats will be assigned on a province basis, proportionally with respect to the population of the provinces of Potenza and Matera.[4]

The new electoral law follows proportional representation with a threshold of 3% for party lists and 4% for lists in coalitions that failed to reach the 8% threshold.[5] If the first coalition wins 30% of the vote, the parties collectively receive 11 (55%) to 14 seats (67%). For the presidential election,[5] a candidate needs to win by a simple majority (first-past-the-post).[6] To cast his vote, the voter can make a single mark on the name of a presidential candidate, and in this case the vote is not transmitted to any party list.[5] If the voter marks the symbol of one of the lists, the vote is automatically transferred to the candidate supported by that list.[5] Since the approval of the new regional electoral law in 2018, split voting is not possible, i.e. voting on a list and a candidate who is not supported by it.[7]

The voter can express two preferences, reserving the second to a candidate of a different sex, otherwise the second preferences will not be valid.[4] Among the innovations there is the introduction of gender equality (each party list cannot have more than 60% of candidates of the same sex), and the abolition of the price list and of the split vote.[8]

Campaign

On 20 February 2019, governor Marcello Pittella announced he would not run for a second term[9] and decided to support Carlo Trerotola (PD), the new centre-left candidate.[10] With the retirement of Pittella, the majority of the left-wing Free and Equal (LeU) returned in the centre-left coalition with the list Progressives for Basilicata.[11] A joint list of left-wing parties ran alone with Valerio Tramutoli as its presidential candidate.[12]

The presidential candidate of the centre-right coalition is Vito Bardi, an independent, former General of Guardia di Finanza, who later joined Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia.[13] The presidential candidate of the Five Star Movement (M5S) is Antonio Mattia.[14] The presidential candidate of Lega Sud Ausonia (a regional party who usually run alone) Antonio Postorivo[15] was excluded due to bureaucratic issues.[16]

Parties and candidates

Political party or alliance		Constituent lists		Previous result		Candidate
				Votes (%)	Seats
	Centre-left coalition		Democratic Party (PD)	24.8	4	Carlo Trerotola
			Federation of the Greens–Reality Italy (FdV–RI)	5.9 (RI)	1 (RI)
			Progressives for Basilicata (PpB)	N/A	N/A
			Forward Basilicata (AB)	N/A	N/A
			Trerotola for President (CD – Popular Project) (incl. PRI)	N/A	N/A
			Basilicata First	N/A	N/A
			Italian Socialist Party (PSI)	7.5	1
	Centre-right coalition		Forza Italia (FI)	12.3	2	Vito Bardi
			Brothers of Italy (FdI)	5.1	1
			League (Lega)	N/A	N/A
			Identity and Action (IDeA)	N/A	N/A
			Positive Basilicata – Bardi for President (BP)	N/A	N/A
	Five Star Movement (M5S)			9.0	2	Antonio Mattia
	Possible Basilicata (incl. SI, PRC, DemA)			N/A	N/A	Valerio Tramutoli

Opinion polls

Date	Polling firm	Trerotola	Bardi	Mattia	Tramutoli	Undecided	Lead
24 Mar 2019	Election Results	33.1	42.2	20.3	4.4	N/A	9.1
5–8 Mar 2019	Venum (without undecided)	35.0	38.0	22.0	5.0	0.0	3.0
5–8 Mar 2019	Venum (with undecided)	26.1	28.7	16.5	3.8	24.9	2.6

Results

24 March 2019 Basilicata regional election results

Candidates		Votes	%	Seats	Parties		Votes	%	Seats
	Vito Bardi	124,716	42.20	1		League	55,393	19.15	6
						Forza Italia	26,457	9.14	3
						Brothers of Italy	17,112	5.91	1
						Identity and Action	12,094	4.18	1
						Positive Basilicata–Bardi for President	11,492	3.97	1
					Total		122,548	42.36	12
	Carlo Trerotola	97,866	33.11	1		Forward Basilicata	24,957	8.63	2
						Democratic Party	22,423	7.65	2
						Progressives for Basilicata	12,908	4.46	–
						Italian Socialist Party	10,913	3.77	–
						Basilicata First	9,748	3.37	–
						Democratic Centre – Popular Project	9,559	3.30	–
						Federation of the Greens–Reality Italy	5,492	1.90	–
					Total		96,000	33.18	4
	Antonio Mattia	60,070	20.32	–		Five Star Movement	58,658	20.27	3
	Valerio Tramutoli	12,912	4.37	–		Possible Basilicata	12,124	4.19	–
Invalid votes		11,624	–
Total candidates		307,188	100.00	2	Total parties		289,330	100.00	19
Registered voters		573,970	53.52
Source: Ministry of the Interior – Results

Popular vote M5S   20.27% Lega   19.15% FI   9.14% AB   8.63% PD   7.65% FdI   5.91% PpB   4.46% POS   4.19% IDeA   4.18% BP–Bardi   3.97% PSI   3.77% PB   3.37% Trerotola   3.30% FdV–RI   1.90%

President Bardi   42.20% Trerotola   33.11% Mattia   20.32% Tramutoli   4.37%

Results by province

Province	Bardi	Trerotola	Mattia	Tramutoli	Turnout
Potenza	82,244 (41.01%)	69,016 (34.41%)	40,103 (20.00%)	9,183 (4.58%)	52.40%
Matera	42,472 (44.70%)	28,850 (30.36%)	19,967 (21.01%)	3,729 (3.92%)	56.03%

Results by capital city

City	Bardi	Trerotola	Mattia	Tramutoli	Turnout
Potenza	15,688 (40.55%)	11,863 (30.6%)	7,558 (19.54%)	3,576 (9.24)	68.79%
Matera	10,969 (37.51%)	7,740 (26.47%)	9,039 (30.91%)	1,492 (5.10%)	59.88%

Seats by province

Province	Lega	PD	FI	M5S	FdI	Others	Total
Potenza	5	1	2	2	0	2	12
Matera	1	1	1	1	1	2	7

Voter turnout

Region	Time
	12:00	19:00	23:00
Basilicata	13.31%	39.73%	53.52%
Province	Time
	12:00	19:00	23:00
Matera	13.08%	40.82%	56.03%
Potenza	13.42%	39.24%	52.40%
Source: Ministry of the Interior – Turnout

Notes

1. Trerotola is an independent politician close to the Democratic Party.

References

1. "Convocazione dei comizi per l'elezione del Presidente della Giunta e del Consiglio Regionale della Basilicata" (PDF). regione.basilicata.it. Basilicata Region. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
2. The other regional elections will be either on the same day or later in 2019.
3. "Dipartimento per gli Affari Interni e Territoriali". elezioni.interno.gov.it. Interior Ministry. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
4. "REGIONALI 2019 Tutto quello che c'è da sapere sul voto in Basilicata". quotidianodelsud.it. il Quotidiano del Sud. 17 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
5. "Elezioni Basilicata, nella sfida tra Lega e 5 stelle il Pd può tenere la Regione". Today.
6. "Elezioni regionali Basilicata 2019, chi sono i candidati alla presidenza di Regione". fanpage.it. Fanpage.it. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
7. "Regionali in Basilicata, come e quando si vota". vanityfair.it. Vanity Fair Italy. 23 March 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
8. "Elezioni regionali in Basilicata, come e quando si vota: tutto quello che c'è da sapere". tg24.sky.it. Sky TG24. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
9. "Pd, Pittella (indagato) annuncia il passo indietro alle Regionali e scoppia in lacrime: "È tutto così assurdo"". Il Fatto Quotidiano. 20 February 2019.
10. "Basilicata, il Pd candida l'indagato Pittella alle Regionali. Ma Leu e parte dei dem dicono no e lui rinuncia". Il Fatto Quotidiano. 20 February 2019.
11. "Pittella regista dell'"operazione speziale" che ricompatta il centrosinistra in Basilicata". L’Huffington Post. 20 February 2019.
12. "Tramutoli, una Basilicata "carbon free" - Basilicata". Agenzia ANSA. 24 February 2019.
13. ""La Basilicata rinascerà, il centrodestra è pronto": Vito Bardi parla della sua sfida difficile ma esaltante". Secolo d'Italia. 24 February 2019.
14. "Dopo il crollo in Sardegna, strada in salita per M5S anche in Basilicata". Il Sole 24 ORE.
15. "Elezioni Regione Basilicata: 2 liste escluse! Forse scende a 4 il numero dei candidati alla carica di Presidente". 26 February 2019.
16. "Elezioni Basilicata, fuori 2 liste: 4 governatori in corsa". www.lagazzettadelmezzogiorno.it.