Politics of Apulia

Politics of Apulia
Statute Regional Government President: Michele Emiliano Vice President: Raffaele Piemontese Regional Council President: Loredana Capone Elections Political parties Provinces
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The politics of Apulia, Italy take place in the 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 Apulia, 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 2004.

Prior to the rise of Fascism, most of the deputies elected in Apulia were part of the liberal establishment (see Historical Right, Historical Left and Liberals), which governed Italy for decades. At the 1924 general election, which opened the way to the Fascist authoritarian rule, Apulia was one of the regions where the National Fascist Party (PNF) obtained more than 50% of the vote.^[1]

After World War II, Apulia became a stronghold of the Christian Democracy (DC), which was especially strong in rural areas. The region is now considered a stronghold of the "centre-left coalition" led by the Democratic Party (PD), having been governed by such alliance since 2005.

Between 2005 and 2015 the region was headed by Nichi Vendola, the first openly LGBT heads of a regional government in Italy.

The Regional Council of Apulia (Consiglio Regionale della Puglia) is composed of 51 members, 50 councillors and the President. 23 councillors are elected in provincial constituencies by proportional representation using the largest remainder method with a Droop quota and open lists, while 27 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.

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.^[2]

The Regional Government (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 10 members: the President and 9 regional ministers or assessors (Assessori), including a Vice President (Vice Presidente).^[4]

The current Regional Government was sworn in on 24 November 2020.

The current President of Apulia is Michele Emiliano, who is serving his second term after winning the 2020 regional election.

Presidents elected by the Regional Council (1970–1995)

Directly-elected presidents (since 1995)

N.	Portrait	President	Term of office		Tenure (Years and days)	Party		Composition	Legislature
13		Salvatore Distaso (1937–2008)	27 June 1995	19 May 2000	4 years, 327 days		FI	FI–AN–CDC	VI (1995)
14		Raffaele Fitto (b. 1969)	19 May 2000	27 April 2005	4 years, 343 days		FI	FI–AN–CDC–CDU	VII (2000)
15		Nichi Vendola (b. 1958)	27 April 2005	26 April 2010	10 years, 60 days		PRC / SEL	DS–DL–PRC–SDI– UDEUR–PdCI−IdV–FdV	VIII (2005)
			26 April 2010	26 June 2015				PD–SEL–IdV	IX (2010)
16		Michele Emiliano (b. 1959)	26 June 2015	24 November 2020	9 years, 211 days		PD	PD–SEL–IdV–SC–UdC	X (2015)
			24 November 2020	Incumbent				PD–CE–PcE–M5S[6]	XI (2020)

Apulia is divided into five provinces and one metropolitan city.

After the 2014 reform of local authorities the Province of Bari was replaced by the new Metropolitan City of Bari. Since 2014 the president of the province is no more elected directly by citizens, but is chosen by mayors and councilors of the municipalities of the province.

Apulia is also divided into 258 comuni (municipalities), which have even more history, having been established in the Middle Ages when they were the main places of government. There are eight provincial capital cities in Apulia, as the Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani is the only province in Italy with three capital cities.

There are 258 communes in Apulia (as of January 2019):

• 41 in the Metropolitan City of Bari
• 10 in the Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani
• 20 in the Province of Brindisi
• 61 in the Province of Foggia
• 97 in the Province of Lecce
• 29 in the Province of Taranto

In the latest regional election, which took place on 20–21 September 2020, Michele Emiliano of the Democratic Party was re-elected President with 46.8% of the vote.

20–21 September 2020 Apulian regional election results

Candidates		Votes	%	Seats	Parties		Votes	%	Seats
	Michele Emiliano	871,028	46.78	1		Democratic Party	289,188	17.25	16
						With Emiliano	110,559	6.59	6
						Populars with Emiliano	99,621	5.94	5
						Civic Sense – A New Olive Tree for Apulia	69,780	4.16	–
						Italia in Comune	64,886	3.87	–
						Solidary and Green Apulia	63,725	3.80	–
						Emiliano Mayor of Apulia	43,404	2.59	–
						Animalist Party	5,573	0.33	–
						Alternative Left	4,192	0.25	–
						Pensioners and Disabled	3,119	0.19	–
						Party of the South	1,410	0.08	–
						Thought and Action Party	1,243	0.07	–
						Independent South	1,179	0.07	–
						Christian Democracy	1,047	0.06	–
						Open Society Association – The Liberals	806	0.05	–
					Total		759,732	45.32	27
	Raffaele Fitto	724,928	38.93	1		Brothers of Italy	211,693	12.63	6
						League	160,507	9.57	4
						Forza Italia	149,399	8.91	4
						Apulia Tomorrow	141,201	8.42	3
						Union of the Centre – New PSI	31,736	1.89	–
					Total		694,536	41.43	17
	Antonella Laricchia	207,038	11.12	–		Five Star Movement	165,243	9.86	5
						Future Apulia	9,897	0.59	–
					Total		175,140	10.45	5
	Ivan Scalfarotto	29,808	1.60	–		Italia Viva	18,025	1.08	–
						Scalfarotto for President	5,062	0.30	–
						Green Future	1,888	0.11	–
					Total		24,975	1.49	–
	Mario Conca	16,531	0.89	–		Apulian Citizens	12,162	0.73	–
	Nicola Cesaria	7,222	0.39	–		Work Environment Constitution	5,880	0.35	–
	Pierfranco Bruni	3,115	0.17	–		Tricolour Flame	2,362	0.14	–
	Andrea D'Agosto	2,353	0.13	–		Reconquer Italy	1,712	0.10	–
Blank and invalid votes		149,658	7.44
Total candidates		1,862,023	100.00	2	Total parties		1,676,499	100.00	49
Registered voters/turnout		3,565,013	56.43
Source: Ministry of the Interior – Results Archived 2020-09-23 at the Wayback Machine

• Apulia Region
• Regional Council of Apulia
• Constitution of Apulia