2000 Lombard regional election explained

The 2000 Lombard regional election took place on 16 April 2000. The 7th term of the Regional Council was chosen.

Roberto Formigoni (Forza Italia) was re-elected for the second time in a row President, defeating Mino Martinazzoli (Italian People's Party). His re-election resulted in a landslide, as this time he was supported also by the Northern League.

Electoral system

Regional elections in Lombardy were ruled by the "Tatarella law" (approved in 1995), which 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 method among the provincial party lists; one fifth of the council seats instead was reserved for regional lists and assigned with a majoritarian system: 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, however, 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.

Council apportionment

According to the official 1991 Italian census, the 64 Council seats which must be covered by proportional representation were so distributed between Lombard provinces.

BG	BS	CO	CR	LC	LO	MN	MI	PV	SO	VA	total
7	8	4	2	2	1	3	27	3	1	6	64

The allocation is not fixed. Remaining seats and votes after proportional distribution, are all grouped at regional level and divided by party lists. The consequent division of these seats at provincial level usually change the original apportionment. Only 43 seats were directly assigned at provincial level, and the final distribution between provinces changed in this way.

BG	BS	CO	CR	LC	LO	MN	MI	PV	SO	VA	total
+2	=	=	=	+1	+1	-1	+2	-1	+1	+2	+7

As it can be seen, the landslide victory of the Pole for Freedoms caused the distribution of seven more seats to the oppositions at provincial level. Bergamo and Varese received two new seats, Cremona and Lodi and Sondrio one each.

Parties and candidates

Political party or alliance	Constituent lists	Previous result		Candidate
Votes (%)	Seats
	Pole for Freedoms			29.2	28	Roberto Formigoni
				17.7	12
				10.0	8
				2.2	2
				1.4	–
			Others
	The Olive Tree			26.4	17	Mino Martinazzoli
				7.7	5
	Bonino List			1.8	–	Benedetto Della Vedova
	Party of Italian Communists					Nerio Nesi

Results

The 1999 European election marked a turning point in relations between Forza Italia and the Northern League. Silvio Berlusconi's attempt to destroy the League by a media campaign aimed at shifting protesting votes to the Italian Radicals, succeeded only in part: the consensus of the federalist movement had fallen so sharply, but not enough to ensure the coalition of the Knight from possible disasters like the 1996 election. In addition, the assembly works in parliament had highlighted a growing programmatic convergence between the two major Lombard 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 Pole for Freedoms, which found in the regional elections its first test.

The combination of what were the major forces of regional politics, securing a safe and agile reappointment to the Communion and Liberation's incumbent President, Roberto Formigoni, which ensured stability of the Regional Cabinet that the new regulations wanted to coincide in term with the legislature. Forza Italia was confirmed as the largest party in the region with an historic 34% of the vote, while Lega Nord was the second largest party with 15%. 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 Italian Renewal, which here run in a single list for the first time in Italian history, had a great shock losing a fifth of its votes, falling at only 20%.

Candidates		Votes	%	Seats	Parties		Votes	%	Seat
	Roberto Formigoni	3,355,803	62.37	8
		Forza Italia	1,539,359	33.79	24
		Northern League – Lombard League	702,479	15.42	10
		National Alliance	441,087	9.68	6
		United Christian Democrats	111,112	2.44	1
		Christian Democratic Centre	76,423	1.68	1
		Pensioners' Party	71,925	1.58	1
		Socialist Party	31,178	0.68	–
		The Liberals Sgarbi	21,876	0.48	–
Total		2,995,439	65.75	43
	Mino Martinazzoli	1,692,474	31.46	1
		The Olive Tree	918,345	20.16	19
		Communist Refoundation Party	289,572	6.36	5
		Italian Democratic Socialists–Liberals–Others	86,517	1.90	1
Total		1,294,434	28.41	25
	Benedetto Della Vedova	178,406	3.32	–		Bonino List	154,396	3.39	3
	Nerio Nesi	110,202	2.05	–		Party of Italian Communists	86,027	1.89	–
	Giorgio Schultze	43,696	0.81	–		Humanist Party	25,350	0.56	–
Total candidates		5,380,581	100.00	9	Total parties		4,555,646	100.00	71
Source: Ministry of the Interior – Historical Archive of Elections

Results by province

Province	Roberto Formigoni	Mino Martinazzoli	Benedetto Della Vedova	Turnout
Milan	1,311,057 (60.01%)	724,518 (33.16%)	75,064 (3.44%)	73.38%
Brescia	410,929 (62.24%)	220,489 (33.39%)	16,039 (2.43%)	78.34%
Bergamo	400,883 (67.94%)	159,419 (27.02%)	16,367 (2.77%)	79.15%
Varese	319,092 (67.06%)	124,027 (26.07%)	18,742 (3.94%)	74.05%
Como	226,699 (69.81%)	81,712 (25.16%)	11,721 (3.61%)	75.71%
Pavia	188,138 (62.02%)	92,449 (30.48%)	11,997 (3.96%)	77.28%
Mantua	121,621 (53.08%)	88,549 (38.65%)	8,202 (3.58%)	77.40%
Cremona	123,317 (59.72%)	70,621 (34.20%)	5,667 (2.74%)	79.51%
Lecco	117,140 (62.06%)	62,995 (33.37%)	6,004 (3.18%)	78.66%
Lodi	68,245 (58.21%)	41,716 (35.58%)	3,778 (3.22%)	78.38%
Sondrio	68,682 (68.44%)	25,979 (25.89%)	4,825 (4.81%)	69.26%

Results by capital city

City	Roberto Formigoni	Mino Martinazzoli	Benedetto Della Vedova	Turnout
Milan	435,304 (59.83%)	244,591 (33.62%)	26,177 (3.60%)	68.80%
Brescia	67,017 (57.09%)	44,515 (37.92%)	3,337 (2.88%)	76.65%
Bergamo	45,064 (62.11%)	23,506 (32.40%)	2,374 (3.27%)	77.10%
Como	33,466 (66.37%)	13,798 (27.37%)	2,222 (4.41%)	72.76%
Varese	31,297 (66.37%)	12,602 (26.73%)	1,988 (4.22%)	69.82%
Pavia	27,578 (59.69%)	15,281 (33.07%)	1,809 (3.92%)	79.16%
Cremona	24,833 (55.20%)	17,015 (37.82%)	1,447 (3.22%)	77.78%
Mantua	14,621 (47.96%)	13,077 (42.90%)	1,312 (4.30%)	76.66%
Lecco	16,800 (60.36%)	9,846 (35.37%)	808 (2.90%)	75.95%
Lodi	15,151 (58.98%)	8,980 (34.96%)	836 (3.25%)	77.73%
Sondrio	7,827 (61.26%)	4,169 (32.63%)	645 (5.05%)	69.49%

Notes and References

1. The swing comes from the combined result of the Pole of Freedoms (41.6%) and Lega Nord (17.7%) in the 1995 regional election.