2006 Italian Senate election in Lombardy explained

Election Name:2006 Italian Senate election in Lombardy
Country:Lombardy
Type:legislative
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:2001 Italian Senate election in Lombardy
Previous Year:2001
Next Election:2008 Italian Senate election in Lombardy
Next Year:2008
Seats For Election:All 47 Lombard seats in the Italian Senate
Election Date:April 9, 2006
Leader1:Silvio Berlusconi
Party1:Forza Italia
Alliance1:House of Freedoms
Last Election1:33 seats, 44.8%
Seats1:27
Seat Change1:-6
Popular Vote1:3,342,468
Percentage1:57.0%
Swing1:+12.2%
Leader2:Romano Prodi
Party2:The Olive Tree (Italy)
Alliance2:The Union (political coalition)
Last Election2:14 seats, 49.4%
33.7% as The Olive
Seats2:20
Seat Change2:+6
Popular Vote2:2,501,467
Percentage2:42.6%
Swing2:-6.8%
Majority
Posttitle:New Majority
Before Election:House of Freedoms
After Election:House of Freedoms

Lombardy renewed its delegation to the Italian Senate on April 9, 2006. This election was a part of national Italian general election of 2006 even if, according to the Italian Constitution, every senatorial challenge in each Region is a single and independent race.

Differently from the national result, the election was won by the centre-right coalition of the House of Freedoms. Forza Italia was the largest party in the election with 28%, ahead of the Democrats of the Left (12%) and Lega Nord (11%). Eleven provinces gave a majority or a plurality to Silvio Berlusconi's alliance, while voters of the Province of Mantua supported the new Prime Minister of Italy Romano Prodi.

Background

Silvio Berlusconi's House of Freedoms arrived to this election after a series of bad results. Forza Italia had lost 5 points at regional level during the 2004 European election, while the Province of Milan shifted to the left in the same occasion. 2005 regional election had confirmed centre-right Regional President Roberto Formigoni, but its coalition lost more than 8 points.

On the other side, in 2005 Romano Prodi had launched his new larger coalition, The Union, merging in a single alliance quite all oppositions to Berlusconi's majority: The Olive Tree, the Communist Refoundation Party and Antonio Di Pietro's Italy of Values, which in Lombardy were joined by the Lombard Autonomy League.

Electoral law

The new electoral law for the Senate was established in 2005 by the Calderoli Law, and it is a form of semi-proportional representation. A party presents its own closed list and it can join other parties in alliances. The coalition which receives a plurality automatically wins at least 26 seats. Respecting this condition, seats are divided between coalitions, and subsequently to party lists, using the largest remainder method with a Hare quota. To receive seats, a party must overcome the barrage of 8% of the vote if it contests a single race, or of 3% of the vote if it runs in alliance.

Results

|-|- bgcolor="#E9E9E9"!rowspan="1" align="left" valign="top"|Coalition leader!rowspan="1" align="center" valign="top"|votes!rowspan="1" align="center" valign="top"|votes (%)!rowspan="1" align="center" valign="top"|seats!rowspan="1" align="left" valign="top"|Party!rowspan="1" align="center" valign="top"|votes!rowspan="1" align="center" valign="top"|votes (%)!rowspan="1" align="center" valign="top"|seats!rowspan="1" align="center" valign="top"|change|-!rowspan="5" align="left" valign="top"|Silvio Berlusconi|rowspan="5" valign="top"|3,342,468|rowspan="5" valign="top"|57.0|rowspan="5" valign="top"|27|align="left"|Forza Italia|valign="top"|1,623,745|valign="top"|27.7|valign="top"|14|valign="top"|-1|-|align="left"|Lega Nord|valign="top"|652,047|valign="top"|11.1|valign="top"|5|valign="top"|-4|-|align="left"|National Alliance|valign="top"|572,242|valign="top"|9.8|valign="top"|5|valign="top"|-2|-|align="left"|Union of Christian and Centre Democrats|valign="top"|343,269|valign="top"|5.9|valign="top"|3|valign="top"|+2|-|align="left"|Others|valign="top"|151,165|valign="top"|2.5|valign="top"|-|valign="top"|-1|-!rowspan="7" align="left" valign="top"|Romano Prodi|rowspan="7" valign="top"|2,501,467|rowspan="7" valign="top"|42.6|rowspan="7" valign="top"|20|align="left"|Democrats of the Left|valign="top"|726,105|valign="top"|12.4|valign="top"|7|valign="top"|+3|-|align="left"|Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy|valign="top"|588,856|valign="top"|10.0|valign="top"|6|valign="top"|+2|-|align="left"|Communist Refoundation Party|valign="top"|407,939|valign="top"|7.0|valign="top"|4|valign="top"|+3|-|align="left"|Together with the Union|valign="top"|588,856|valign="top"|4.8|valign="top"|3|valign="top"|=|-|align="left"|Italy of Values|valign="top"|150,116|valign="top"|2.6|valign="top"|-|valign="top"|-1|-|align="left"|Rose in the Fist|valign="top"|128,849|valign="top"|2.2|valign="top"|-|valign="top"|-|-|align="left"|Others|valign="top"|220,050|valign="top"|3.8|valign="top"|-|valign="top"|-1|-!rowspan="1" align="left" valign="top"|Others|rowspan="1" valign="top"|25,193|rowspan="1" valign="top"|0.4|rowspan="1" valign="top"|-|align="left"|Others|valign="top"|25,193|valign="top"|0.4|valign="top"|-|valign="top"|-|-|- bgcolor="#E9E9E9"!rowspan="1" align="left" valign="top"|Total coalitions!rowspan="1" align="right" valign="top"|5,869,128!rowspan="1" align="right" valign="top"|100.0!rowspan="1" align="right" valign="top"|47!rowspan="1" align="left" valign="top"|Total parties!rowspan="1" align="right" valign="top"|5,869,128!rowspan="1" align="right" valign="top"|100.0!rowspan="1" align="right" valign="top"|47!rowspan="1" align="right" valign="top"|=|}Source: Ministry of the Interior

Lombard delegation to Senate

Forza Italia

Democrats of the Left

The Daisy

Lega Nord

National Alliance

Communist Refoundation Party

Union of Christian and Centre Democrats

Together with the Union

Source: Italian Senate

Notes and References

  1. According to article 122 of Italian Constitution, nobody can be both member of Parliament and member of a Regional Council. Despite this constitutional provision, ordinary law allows three months of contemporary membership.