Primary elections in Italy explained

Primary elections were first introduced in Italy by Lega Nord in 1995, but were seldom used until before the 2005 regional elections.

In January 2005 the centre-left The Union coalition held open primaries in order to select its candidate for President in Apulia. More importantly, in October 2005, The Union asked its voters to choose the candidate for Prime Minister in the 2006 general election: 4.3 million voters showed up and Romano Prodi won hands down. Two years later, in October 2007: 3.5 million voters of the Democratic Party were called to elect Walter Veltroni as their first leader, the party's constituent assembly and regional leaders.

The centre-right (see House of Freedoms, The People of Freedom, centre-right coalition and Forza Italia) has held primary elections only at the local level.

Regulatory rules

There are no laws at country level to govern the conduct of any primary election.

In 2004 Tuscany introduced a regional law^[1] regulating primaries, but parties are not mandated to hold primaries. As of today, these rules were used in occasion of the 2005 regional election by the Democrats of the Left and Future Tuscany,^[2] and in the 2010 regional election by the Democratic Party and Left Ecology Freedom.^[3]

List of primary elections

The list includes the results of (open) primary elections for prime minister, president of region, mayor of a city with 150,000 inhabitants and leader of major party. All the following primaries were funded and ran by parties, with the sole exception of those for the Regional Council of Tuscany.

Highlighted rows denote country-level primary elections.

O : Open primary

C: Closed primary

2000s

Primary date(s)		Party/Coalition	Position(s)	Winner	Article
16 January 2005		The Union	President of Apulia	Nichi Vendola
16 October 2005	O	The Union	Prime Minister of Italy	Romano Prodi	link
4 December 2005		The Union	President of Sicily	Rita Borsellino
29 January 2005		The Union	Mayor of Milan	Bruno Ferrante
4 February 2007		The Union	Mayor of Genoa	Marta Vincenzi
4 February 2007		The Union	Mayor of Palermo	Leoluca Orlando
14 October 2007	O	Democratic Party	Party leader	Walter Veltroni	link
14 December 2008		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Bologna	Flavio Delbono
14 February 2009		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Florence	Matteo Renzi
25 October 2009	O	Democratic Party	Party leader	Pier Luigi Bersani	link

2010s

Primary date(s)		Party/Coalition	Position(s)	Winner	Article
24 January 2010		Democratic Party and allies	President of Apulia	Nichi Vendola^[4]
24 January 2010		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Venice	Giorgio Orsoni^[5]
7 February 2010		Democratic Party and allies	President of Umbria	Catiuscia Marini^[6]
14 February 2010		Democratic Party and allies	President of Calabria	Agazio Loiero^[7]
14 November 2010		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Milan	Giuliano Pisapia	link
12 December 2010		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Trieste	Roberto Cosolini^[8]
23 January 2011		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Bologna	Virginio Merola
23 January 2011		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Naples	Andrea Cozzolino
30 January 2011		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Cagliari	Massimo Zedda
27 February 2011		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Turin	Piero Fassino
4 December 2011		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Verona	Michele Bertucco^[9]
29 January 2012		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Parma	Vincenzo Bernazzoli^[10]
12 February 2012		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Genoa	Marco Doria^[11]
4 March 2012		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Palermo	Fabrizio Ferrandelli
25 November 2012	O	Democratic Party and allies	Prime Minister of Italy	Pier Luigi Bersani^[12]	link
15 December 2012		Democratic Party and allies	President of Lombardy	Umberto Ambrosoli^[13]
7 April 2013		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Rome	Ignazio Marino^[14]
14 April 2013		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Brescia	Emilio Del Bono^[15]
13 July 2013		Democratic Party and allies	President of Trentino	Ugo Rossi^[16]
22 September 2013		Democratic Party and allies	President of Basilicata	Marcello Pittella^[17]
29 September 2013		Democratic Party and allies	President of Sardinia	Francesca Barracciu^[18]
8 December 2013	O	Democratic Party	Party leader	Matteo Renzi^[19]	link
2 February 2014		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Padua	Ivo Rossi^[20]
23 February 2014		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Bari	Antonio Decaro^[21]
23 February 2014		Brothers of Italy	Party leader	Giorgia Meloni^[22]
2 March 2014		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Modena	Gian Carlo Muzzarelli^[23]
2 March 2014		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Reggio Emilia	Luca Vecchi^[24]
9 March 2014		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Foggia	Augusto Marasco^[25]
16 March 2014		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Livorno	Marco Ruggeri^[26]
23 March 2014		Democratic Party	Mayor of Florence	Dario Nardella^[27]
28 September 2014		Democratic Party	President of Emilia-Romagna	Stefano Bonaccini^[28]
5 October 2014		Democratic Party and allies	President of Calabria	Mario Oliverio^[29]
30 November 2014		Democratic Party and allies	President of Veneto	Alessandra Moretti^[30]
30 November 2014		Democratic Party and allies	President of Apulia	Michele Emiliano^[31]
11 January 2015		Democratic Party and allies	President of Liguria	Raffaella Paita^[32]
1 March 2015		Democratic Party and allies	President of Marche	Luca Ceriscioli^[33]
1 March 2015		Democratic Party and allies	President of Campania	Vincenzo De Luca^[34]
16 March 2015		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Venice	Felice Casson^[35]
7 February 2016		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Milan	Giuseppe Sala^[36]	link
6 March 2016		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Naples	Valeria Valente^[37]
6 March 2016		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Rome	Roberto Giachetti
6 March 2016		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Trieste	Roberto Cosolini^[38]
5 March 2017		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Parma	Paolo Scarpa^[39]
2 April 2017		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Verona	Orietta Salemi^[40]
30 April 2017	O	Democratic Party	Party leader	Matteo Renzi^[41]	link
14 May 2017	C	Lega Nord	Party leader	Matteo Salvini^[42]
24 February 2019		Centre-right coalition	Mayor of Bari	Pasquale Di Rella^[43]
24 February 2019		Centre-right coalition	Mayor of Foggia	Franco Landella^[44]
3 March 2019	O	Democratic Party	Party leader	Nicola Zingaretti^[45]	link

2020s

Primary date(s)		Party/Coalition	Position(s)	Winner	Article
12 January 2020		Democratic Party and allies	President of Apulia	Michele Emiliano^[46]	link
12–13 June 2021		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Turin	Stefano Lo Russo	link
20 June 2021		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Bologna	Matteo Lepore	link
20 June 2021		Democratic Party and allies	Mayor of Rome	Roberto Gualtieri	link
23 July 2022		Democratic Party and allies	President of Sicily	Caterina Chinnici	link
15 March 2023		Democratic Party and allies	Party Leader

Notes and References

1. Web site: Legge regionale 17 dicembre 2004, n. 70 (in Italian) . 2012-10-03.
2. Web site: Regione Toscana:Banca Dati:Elezioni primarie 20 febbraio 2005 (in Italian) . 2012-10-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131029194119/http://web.rete.toscana.it/bddgpres/riepilogoRegionale.htm?id_comune=--&id_consultazione=133 . 2013-10-29 . dead .
3. Web site: Regione Toscana:Banca Dati:Elezioni primarie 13 dicembre 2009 (in Italian) . 2012-10-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304050450/http://web.rete.toscana.it/bddgpres/riepilogoRegionale.htm?id_comune=--&id_consultazione=198 . 2016-03-04 . dead .
4. News: Puglia, quasi 200mila al voto per le primarie – Vendola verso la vittoria: "Siamo al 70%". January 24, 2010. La Repubblica. January 24, 2010.
5. News: Orsoni vince le primarie. Sarà lui a sfidare Brunetta. Il ministro: "Ora comincia il vero confronto". January 24, 2010. La Nuova. January 24, 2010.
6. News: Umbria, Marini vince primarie Pd. TGCOM. February 7, 2010. February 8, 2010.
7. News: Primarie in Calabria, Loiero candidato ufficiale Pd. La Stampa. February 15, 2010. February 15, 2010.
8. Web site: Primarie a Trieste: Cosolini candidato sindaco del Pd - Messaggero Veneto. Archivio - Messaggero Veneto.
9. http://www.larena.it/stories/380_in_piazza/312820_primarie_del_centrosinistra_5000_al_voto_vince_bertucco/
10. News: Primarie: ha vinto Bernazzoli con il 48%. Dall'Olio al 36%. 29 January 2012. 5 March 2012. Gazzetta di Parma.
11. Web site: Partito Democratico Genova. www.pdgenova.it.
12. Web site: Risultati definitivi Ballottaggio | Italia. Bene Comune . 2012-12-05 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20121209181559/http://www.primarieitaliabenecomune.it/risultati-definitivi-ballottaggio . 2012-12-09 .
13. Web site: Lombardia, il centrosinistra ha scelto Il trionfo di Ambrosoli con il 57,64%. Redazione Milano. online. Corriere della Sera Milano.
14. Web site: Primarie, Marino vince sfiorando 50% dei voti Il senatore:"A Roma cambieremo tutto". Carlotta. De Leo. Corriere della Sera Roma.
15. Web site: Primarie del centrosinistra, Vince Del Bono. Italia. Brontesi. Corriere della Sera Brescia.
16. Web site: Pd, oltre 23 mila alle primarie in Trentino Vince l'autonomista Ugo Rossi. Redazione. Online. July 13, 2013. Corriere della Sera.
17. Web site: In Basilicata primarie al fotofinish: Vince Marcello Pittella | Europa Quotidiano . 2013-10-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131104014414/http://www.europaquotidiano.it/2013/09/23/in-basilicata-primarie-al-fotofinish-vince-marcello-pittella/ . 2013-11-04 . dead .
18. Web site: Il centrosinistra sceglie la Barracciu Risultati primarie: l'eurodeputata al 44% - Politica. September 30, 2013. L'Unione Sarda.it.
19. Web site: Buono in Cucina – Recensioni sugli Elettrodomestici da Cucina. PRIMARIE.
20. Web site: IN DIRETTA / Primarie del centrosinistra, vince Ivo Rossi. February 2, 2014. Il Mattino di Padova.
21. Web site: Liveblog - Bari, primarie al veleno: l'ombra del voto inquinato. Vince il deputato Decaro (Pd): "Hanno tentato di rovinarci la festa". February 22, 2014. Repubblica.it.
22. Web site: Fratelli d'Italia, ritorno di fiamma: le primarie scelgono simbolo e presidente nazionale. Ivan. Francese. ilGiornale.it. 26 February 2014.
23. Web site: Primarie Pd, Muzzarelli vince con 700 voti sulla Maletti. il Resto del. Carlino. il Resto del Carlino. 2 March 2014.
24. Web site: Primarie, Luca Vecchi è il candidato sindaco del centrosinistra. Caos stranieri. il Resto del. Carlino. il Resto del Carlino. 2 March 2014.
25. Web site: Primarie mettono fine all'era Mongelli: è Marasco il candidato sindaco. FoggiaToday.
26. Web site: Pd: Livorno, Marco Ruggeri trionfa con il 76,5% a primarie a sindaco. www.liberoquotidiano.it.
27. Web site: Firenze, alle primarie del Pd si conferma candidato sindaco Nardella. Il Sole 24 ORE.
28. Web site: Primarie, vince Bonaccini. Renzi: "E' il candidato di tutto il Pd" in Emilia Romagna. Flop affluenza. September 28, 2014. Repubblica.it.
29. Web site: Oliverio vince le primarie del centrosinistra in Calabria: "Risultato straordinario". October 6, 2014. Repubblica.it.
30. Web site: Primarie, il Veneto sceglie Moretti "La battaglia inizia adesso". Marco. Bonet. November 30, 2014. Corriere del Veneto.
31. Web site: Primarie Puglia: trionfa Emiliano. Moretti si prende il Veneto. December 1, 2014. Il Fatto Quotidiano.
32. Web site: Primarie Liguria, vince Raffaella Paita. Cofferati: "Troppe irregolarità". January 12, 2015. Il Fatto Quotidiano.
33. Web site: Regionali, primarie del centrosinistra nelle Marche: vince Ceriscioli. March 1, 2015. Repubblica.it.
34. Web site: Primarie, in Campania vince De Luca: "Sarà una rivoluzione democratica". LaStampa.it. 2 March 2015.
35. Web site: Venezia, Casson vince le primarie: sarà candidato sindaco del centrosinistra. March 15, 2015. Repubblica.it.
36. Web site: Primarie del centrosinistra a Milano, Beppe Sala sarà il candidato sindaco. February 7, 2016. Corriere della Sera.
37. Web site: Primarie, minoranza Pd polemica su affluenza Roma: "Elettori delusi". Il Sole 24 ORE.
38. Web site: Roberto Cosolini vince le primarie del centrosinistra a Trieste - Il Friuli. www.ilfriuli.it.
39. Web site: Primarie a Parma, vince Scarpa: è il candidato sindaco del centrosinistra. March 5, 2017. Repubblica.it.
40. Web site: Primarie, il Pd lancia Orietta Salemi sindaco. Società Editrice Athesis. S.p.A. L'Arena.it.
41. Web site: Primarie | Partito Democratico.
42. News: Matteo Salvini ha vinto le primarie della Lega Nord . 11 February 2020 . Il Post . 13 May 2017 . it-IT.
43. Web site: Primarie centrodestra, Pasquale Di Rella candidato a Bari. Chiara. Sarra. ilGiornale.it. 25 February 2019.
44. Web site: La Foggia del centrodestra non cambia guida: il candidato sindaco è Franco Landella, ko Miranda e Iaccarino. FoggiaToday.
45. Web site: Primarie PD: i risultati in diretta. March 3, 2019.
46. News: Primarie Pd in Puglia, vince Michele Emiliano con il 70%: è di nuovo il candidato governatore. Alle urne in 80mila: affluenza in calo . 11 February 2020 . Il Fatto Quotidiano . 13 January 2020 . it-IT.