1995 Piedmontese regional election explained

Election Name:1995 Piedmentese regional election
Country:Piedmont
Type:legislative
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:1990 Piedmontese regional election
Previous Year:1990
Next Election:2000 Piedmontese regional election
Next Year:2000
Seats For Election:All 60 seats to the Regional Council of Piedmont
Election Date:23 April 1995
Turnout:82.98% (5.99%)
Leader1:Enzo Ghigo
Party1:Forza Italia
Alliance1:Centre-right coalition (Italy)
Color1:0A6BE1
Seats1:33
Popular Vote1:1,059,602
Percentage1:39.7%
Leader2:Giuseppe Pichetto
Party2:Independent
Alliance2:Centre-left coalition (Italy)
Color2:EF3E3E
Seats2:18
Popular Vote2:938,280
Percentage2:35.2%
Leader3:Domenico Comino
Party3:Northern League
Seats3:5
Popular Vote3:296,966
Percentage3:11.1%
President
Posttitle:President-elect
Before Election:Gian Paolo Brizio
Before Party:PPI
After Election:Enzo Ghigo
After Party:FI

The 1995 Piedmontese regional election took place on 23 April 1995. For the first time, the president of Piedmont was directly elected by the people; the election was not yet binding and the president-elect could have been replaced during the term.

In an upset, Enzo Ghigo of Italian: [[Forza Italia]]|italic=no (FI) was elected president of the region, defeating Giuseppe Pichetto, an independent politician running for the country's centre-left coalition, and Domenico Comino of the Italian: [[Lega Nord]]|italic=no (Northern League) regional branch Lega Nord Piemont (Northern League Piedmont). FI, which was founded the year before by Silvio Berlusconi, formed the People's Pole joint list and became the largest party in the region with 26.7% of the vote, while the Democrats of the Left came second with 21.7%.

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 allianceConstituent listsPrevious resultCandidate
Votes (%)Seats
Centre-left coalition27.918Giuseppe Pichetto
22.814
Federation of the Greens6.74
1.41
Pact of Democrats
Northern League Piedmont5.1 3Domenico Comino
Centre-right coalition3.62Enzo Ghigo
Italian: [[Forza Italia]]|italic=no
Pannella List1.2 1Carmelo Palma
Giovanni Alasia

Results

CandidatesVotes%SeatsPartiesVotes%Seats
Enzo Ghigo1,059,60239.7012
Forza Italia – The People's Pole588,17126.7114
National Alliance247,10311.226
Christian Democratic Centre65,0992.961
Total900,37340.8821
Giuseppe Pichetto938,28035.16
Democratic Party of the Left478,61521.7311
Italian People's Party136,6646.213
Pact of Democrats76,5923.482
Federation of the Greens59,2382.691
Pensioners' Party35,1621.601
Populars and Democrats8,5070.39
Total794,77836.0918
Domenico Comino296,96611.13Northern League Piedmont217,1949.865
Giovanni Alasia248,1589.30Communist Refoundation Party203,8429.264
Carmelo Palma54,4362.04
Pannella List35,8991.63
Autonomist Front2,7030.12
Total38,6021.75
Alessandro Lupi45,4281.70Greens Greens31,1451.41
Renzo Rabellino26,0060.97Piedmont Nation of Europe16,3560.74
Total candidates2,668,876100.0012Total parties2,202,290100.0048
Source: Ministry of the Interior – Historical Archive of Elections