List of mayors of Potenza explained

Post:Mayor
Body:Potenza
Insignia:Potenza-Stemma-2.svg
Insigniasize:100px
Native Name:Sindaco di Potenza
Incumbent:Vincenzo Telesca (PD)
Incumbentsince:9 July 2024
Appointer:Popular election
Termlength:5 years, renewable once
Formation:1860
Website:Official website

The mayor of Potenza is an elected politician who, along with the Potenza City Council, is accountable for the strategic government of Potenza in Basilicata, Italy, capital city of the region. During the First Italian Republic period, the city was a stronghold of Christian Democracy, and Emilio Colombo, who held the mayoralty office in 1952, was prime minister of Italy from 1970 to 1972. During the Second Italian Republic, it was a stronghold of the centre-left coalition and its centrist and Christian-democratic parties.

In 2014, Dario De Luca of Brothers of Italy, a heir of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement and the post-fascist National Alliance, became the first right-wing mayor of Potenza in the history of the Italian Republic. In 2019, after initially announcing his re-election bid, De Luca did not run for re-election. Instead, he was replaced by Mario Guarente of the traditional Northern Italian party Lega, which was born in the 1980s as a regionalist, Padanian nationalist, and separatist party but that since 2017 and under Matteo Salvini's leadership had become more of a right-wing populist and nationalist party, and obtained successes in Southern Italy, including Potenza's mayoralty. In 2024, the centre-right coalition did not re-nominate Guarente as candidate due to his unpopularity.

Overview

According to the Constitution of Italy, the mayor of Potenza is member of the City Council. The mayor is elected by the population of Potenza, who also elect the members of the City Council, controlling the mayor's policy guidelines and is able to enforce his resignation by a motion of no confidence. The mayor is entitled to appoint and release the members of his government. Since 1995, the mayor is elected directly by Potenza's electorate; in all mayoral elections in Italy in cities with a population higher than 15,000, the voters express a direct choice for the mayor or an indirect choice voting for the party of the candidate's coalition. The election of the City Council is based on a direct choice for the candidate with a preference vote, and the candidate with the majority of the preferences is elected, while the number of the seats for each party is determined proportionally. If no candidate receives at least 50% of votes, the top two candidates go to a second round after two weeks.[1] [2] [3]

From 1946 to 1995, the mayor of Potenza, which was elected by the City Council, was always a member of Christian Democracy, the ruling party of post-war Italy; as of 2024, of those who held the office of mayor of Potenza, Emilio Colombo (1952) is the only one to be a former prime minister of Italy (1970–1972). In the 1995 Italian local elections, Domenico Potenza of the Democratic Party of the Left became the first mayor of Potenza through direct elections. Up until the 2014 Italian local elections, the office was always held by a member of the centre-left coalition. Overturning the result of the first round, Dario De Luca of Brothers of Italy was elected mayor of Potenza on 8 June 2014 and took office on 23 June 2014.[4] [5] [6] In an upset, he was the first representative of Brothers of Italy to be elected mayor in a provincial capital, the first right-wing mayor of Potenza, and the first centre-right coalition's win.[7] [8] For the 2019 Italian local elections, after De Luca initially announced his re-election bid,[9] [10] [11] he ultimately decided not to run for a second term, and he was succeeded by fellow centre-right coalition member Mario Guarente,[12] [13] who took office on 20 June 2019.[14] A member of Lega, which since Matteo Salvini's leadership had undergone ideological changes that allowed it to gain a significant number of votes in Southern Italy, Guarente was elected in the runoff on 9 June 2019, defeating his left-wing opponent Valerio Tramutoli of Possible by 200 votes,[15] and took office on 20 June 2019.[16] For the 2024 Italian local elections, Guarente did not seek re-election,[17] [18] [19] having been one of the least popular mayors.[20]

Italian Republic (since 1946)

City Council election (1946–1995)

From 1946 to 1995, the mayor of Potenza was elected by the City Council.

class=unsortable MayorTerm startTerm endParty
1Pietro Scognamiglio19461948Christian Democracy
2Giuseppe Sivilia19481949Christian Democracy
(1)Pietro Scognamiglio19491950Christian Democracy
3Emilio Colombo14 June 195216 December 1952Christian Democracy
4Eugenio Brienza16 December 1952January 1955Christian Democracy
5Vincenzo SolimenaJanuary 19551960Christian Democracy
6Giovanni Messina19601964Christian Democracy
7Francesco Petrullo19651966Christian Democracy
8Imperio Napolitano19661966Christian Democracy
(7)Francesco Petrullo19661970Christian Democracy
9Antonio Bellino19701975Christian Democracy
10Raffaello Antonio Mecca197529 September 1980Christian Democracy
11Gaetano Fierro29 September 198017 June 1990Christian Democracy
12Rocco Sampogna17 June 19907 May 1995Christian Democracy

Direct election (since 1995)

Since 1995, under provisions of new local administration law, the mayor of Potenza is chosen by direct election.

class=unsortable MayorTerm startTerm endParty
Domenico Potenza7 May 199513 June 1999Democratic Party of the Left
(11)Gaetano Fierro13 June 199914 July 2004Union of Democrats for Europe
Vito Santarsiero14 July 20047 June 2009The Daisy
7 June 200923 June 2014Democratic Party
Dario De Luca23 June 201420 June 2019Brothers of Italy
Mario Guarente20 June 20199 July 2024Lega
Vincenzo Telesca9 July 2024IncumbentDemocratic Party

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Cipolla . Alessandro . 16 May 2024 . Elezioni amministrative Potenza 2024: data, candidati, liste e sondaggi . 31 May 2024 . Money.it . it.
  2. Web site: Casula . Giulia . 25 May 2024 . Elezioni Potenza 2024: date e orari, candidati e ultimi sondaggi sulle comunali . 31 May 2024 . Fanpage.it . it.
  3. Web site: 29 May 2024 . Elezioni Comunali 2024, come e dove si vota: cosa sapere . 31 May 2024 . Sky TG24 . it.
  4. Web site: Dario De Luca. Dipartimento per gli Affari Interni e Territoriali. it. 2014. 8 May 2024. 11 December 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201211053320/https://amministratori.interno.gov.it/amministratori/ServletNomeReg3?campo1=1235860&campo2=a. dead.
  5. Web site: Dario De Luca. Comune di Potenza. it. 2014. 8 May 2024.
  6. Web site: Comune di Potenza – Basilicata – Ballottaggio – Elezioni comunali 25 maggio 2014. La Repubblica. 9 June 2014. 8 May 2024.
  7. Web site: 9 June 2014 . Dario De Luca . 31 May 2024 . Agenzia ANSA . it.
  8. Web site: Dario De Luca è il primo sindaco di centrodestra di Potenza. dead. Libero. it. 9 June 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141231234251/http://www.liberoquotidiano.it/news/politica/11632584/Dario-De-Luca-e-il-primo.html. 31 December 2014. 8 May 2024.
  9. Web site: 28 March 2019 . Indiscreflash! Dario De Luca si ricandida a sindaco di Potenza? . 31 May 2024 . Angeloma . it.
  10. Web site: Pesarini . Rocco . 29 March 2019 . Intervista a Dario De Luca: si ricandida? . 31 May 2024 . Talenti Lucani – Passaggio a Sud . it.
  11. Web site: 16 April 2019 . Intervista a De Luca: 'Mi ricandido perché non voglio deludere chi mi ha chiesto di continuare' . 31 May 2019 . Ufficio Stampa Basilicata . it.
  12. Web site: 20 June 2019 . Potenza, proclamazione e passaggio di consegne per il nuovo sindaco Guarente . 31 May 2024 . Basilicata24 . it.
  13. Web site: Moliterni . Ferdinando . 20 June 2019 . Finita l'era De Luca, il tricolore a Guarente . 31 May 2024 . Le Cronache Lucane . it.
  14. Web site: 20 June 2019 . Potenza, Mario Guarente si insedia ufficialmente come sindaco . 8 May 2024 . La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno . it.
  15. Web site: 31 May 2024 . Elezioni comunali a Potenza, chi sono i candidati sindaco . 31 May 2024 . Sky TG24 . it.
  16. Web site: 2019 . Mario Guarente . Dipartimento per gli Affari Interni e Territoriali. it. 8 May 2024.
  17. Web site: 27 April 2024 . Comunali a Potenza, Guarente vacilla, si avvicina una rinuncia alla candidatura . 8 May 2024 . Il Quotidiano del Sud . it.
  18. Web site: 8 May 2024 . Clamoroso ma non troppo... Guarente abdica e Francesco Fanelli sarà il prossimo candidato sindaco per il centro destra al Comune di Potenza . 8 May 2024 . Tutto Potenza . it.
  19. Web site: 8 May 2024 . Comunali Potenza, Guarente (Lega) rinuncia, si va verso candidatura Fanelli . 8 May 2024 . La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno . it.
  20. Web site: Amato . Leo . 8 May 2024 . Comunali Potenza, Guarente rinuncia al bis, tocca a Fanelli . 8 May 2024 . Il Quotidiano del Sud . it.