The 2019

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

n regional election took place on 27 October 2019. The election was for all 20 members of the Legislative Assembly of Umbria, as well as for the President of the Region, who is also a member of the Assembly.

Electoral system

The candidate who obtains a plurality of votes on a regional level is elected

President of Umbria The presidents of the regional junta, from its proclamation in 1970 until today, were eight and have presided over a total of 14 members. As established by the art. 114, second paragraph of the text, the region of Umbria was established, and th ...

and the winning coalition receives 60% of the seats in the Legislative Assembly, ie 12 seats, excluding the seat reserved to the President. All other candidates for President who have not been elected but are linked to lists or coalitions that have elected at least one councillor are automatically elected to the Legislative Assembly. The allocation of seats by coalitions and lists takes place on a proportional basis using a

largest remainder method The largest remainder method (also known as Hare–Niemeyer method, Hamilton method or as Vinton's method) is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems. It contrasts with various h ...

with

open list Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a party's candidates are elected. This is as opposed to closed list, which allows only active members, par ...

s, with a 2.5% threshold for all lists and with a maximum limit of 10 seats obtainable for a single list. Each candidate for President cannot spend more than €100,000, each candidate for regional councillor cannot spend more than €25,000 and each list cannot spend more than €1 multiplied by the number of inhabitants of the Region.

Background

In April 2019 the regional secretary of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

Gianpiero Bocci and the regional health councillor Luca Barberini, together with Emilio Duca and Maurizio Valorosi, general manager and administrative director of the

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part o ...

hospital, were arrested following an investigation into recruitment competitions in 2018 when Bocci was undersecretary of the Ministry of the Interior. They were committed to stand trial on charges of abuse of office, disclosure of official secrecy, aiding and false ideology and material, for having communicated to some recommended candidates the questions that would have been present in the recruitment competitions. Catiuscia Marini, President of the Umbria Region, was committed to stand trial on charges of false ideology and material, abuse of office and disclosure of official secrets. A total of 35 people were investigated. Both

Matteo Salvini Matteo Salvini (; born 9 March 1973) is an Italian politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport since 2022. He has been List of Federal ...

and

Luigi Di Maio Luigi Di Maio (; born 6 July 1986) is an Italian former stadium beverage vendor and politician. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2019 to 2022, as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of Economic Development, Labour and Soci ...

demanded the resignation of the President and requested an early election, organizing rallies to

right after the arrests, while the new secretary of the Democratic Party,

Nicola Zingaretti Nicola Zingaretti (; born 11 October 1965) is an Italian politician who served as President of Lazio and was Secretary of the Democratic Party from March 2019 until March 2021. During the 1990s, he was a prominent European youth leader, servi ...

, said that the prosecutors must ascertain responsibilities for the crime committed by suspects. Later on,

Carlo Calenda Carlo Calenda (born 9 April 1973) is an Italian business executive and politician. On 10 May 2016, he was appointed Minister of Economic Development in the government of Matteo Renzi and continued in that role in the government of Renzi's success ...

, member of the Democratic Party, requested her resignation, while the secretary Zingaretti said she "must do what is best for Umbria", viewed by the newspapers as an invite to resign. President Catiuscia Marini initially announced she would resign, but a month later she voted a motion in the Legislative Assembly that asked her not to resign, causing much controversy in the party, and eventually, she officially resigned, leaving the post to her deputy president Fabio Paparelli.

Candidates

Centre-left

The Democratic Party, following the scandal in the Region, decided they wanted to support an independent candidate. Among the civic lists with which they initially collaborated to draft the program, there were the Movement of the ideas and the act, promoted by the president of the Umbria Andrea Fora and the professor of the

University of Perugia University of Perugia (Italian ''Università degli Studi di Perugia'') is a public-owned university based in Perugia, Italy. It was founded in 1308, as attested by the Bull issued by Pope Clement V certifying the birth of the Studium Generale. Th ...

Luca Ferrucci, Mario Stirati, mayor of

Gubbio Gubbio () is an Italian town and ''comune'' in the far northeastern part of the Italian province of Perugia (Umbria). It is located on the lowest slope of Mt. Ingino, a small mountain of the Apennines. History The city's origins are very ancient. ...

, and finally Umbria of the Territories of Stefania Proietti, mayor of

Assisi Assisi (, also , ; from la, Asisium) is a town and ''comune'' of Italy in the Province of Perugia in the Umbria region, on the western flank of Monte Subasio. It is generally regarded as the birthplace of the Latin poet Propertius, born aroun ...

and the councillor of

Todi Todi () is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) of the province of Perugia (region of Umbria) in central Italy. It is perched on a tall two-crested hill overlooking the east bank of the river Tiber, commanding distant views in every direction. I ...

Floriano Pizzichini. Andrea Fora finally decided to formalize his availability as a candidate for president for the centre-left coalition, supported by cardinal

Bassetti Bassetti is an Italian textile company. It was founded in Milan in 1830 by Carlo Barboncini, as a textile emporium. In 1840 it opened a hand-weaving factory at Rescaldina Rescaldina () is a ''comune'' (municipality) that is part of the Metrop ...

, the Democratic Party and other minor lists like

DemoS Demos may refer to: Computing * DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system * DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR * Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems * plural for Demo (computer programming) ...

, creating some discontent on the other lists for his self candidature, choosing to run as a brand new coalition called Civic Green and Social Umbria, joined by Umbria of the Territories, the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parties of the country. Founded in Genoa in 1892, ...

, the Movement of the ideas and the act,

Green Europe Green Europe ( it, Europa Verde, EV), officially Green Europe – Greens (''Europa Verde – Verdi''), is a green political party in Italy. Its leaders are Angelo Bonelli, long-time leader of the former Federation of the Greens, and Eleonora Evi, ...

and The Other Umbria, a list promoted by Communist Refoundation and

Italian Left Italian Left ( it, Sinistra Italiana, SI) is a left-wing political party in Italy. SI was launched in November 2015 as a parliamentary group in the Chamber of Deputies (full name: Italian Left – Left Ecology Freedom), including Left Ecology Fr ...

. Possible candidates for the Presidency from the alternative coalition were Luciano Bacchetta, president of the Province of Terni, Marco Sciorini, coordinator of Terni of Umbria of the Territories, and Floriano Pizzichini.

Centre-right

Like what happened at the last regional elections in Piedmont, the centre-right for months did not find an agreement on the candidate President.

, for the League, immediately after the health scandal, proposed for the presidency Donatella Tesei, senator of the League and former mayor of

Montefalco Montefalco is a historic small hill town in Umbria, Italy, with a population of 5,581 in August 2017. It has been settled since pre-Roman times, and retains many of its historic buildings. From 1446 to 1861 it was part of the Papal States. Montef ...

, also supported by the new party

Cambiamo! Cambiamo! (, also stylized as C!) is a centre-right political party in Italy, led by Giovanni Toti. History Background and beginnings In June 2019, after the European Parliament election, Silvio Berlusconi appointed Giovanni Toti, president o ...

Giovanni Toti Giovanni Toti (born 7 September 1968) is an Italian journalist and politician, who has been President of Liguria since June 2015. Toti was also elected to the European Parliament, following the 2014 European Parliament election. Biography Born ...

, while Fratelli d'Italia insisted on the name of Marco Squarta, group leader of the party at the regional council of Umbria. A third candidacy, Andrea Romiti, mayor of Perugia, was put forward by the former assessor of Perugia Francesco Calabrese, promoting the list Project Umbria, but was immediately rejected by the three parties, specifying that there would be no more than four lists in support of the candidate President. In early September, both Forza Italia and FdI supported Tesei's candidacy, but both parties wanted a deputy president of their own (Marco Squarta for FdI, Roberto Morroni for FI). Another problem was FI's veto to the list of Cambiamo into the coalition, but Matteo Salvini asked for the centre-right unity, leaving the decision to Tesei.

Five Star Movement

The

Five Star Movement The Five Star Movement ( it, Movimento 5 Stelle , M5S) is a political party in Italy. Its leader and president is Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy from 2018 until 2021. The M5S was founded on 4 October 2009 by Beppe Grillo, a comedian an ...

didn't hold the online primaries for the election of the presidential candidate. In July, the former candidate for President of the Umbria Region at the previous elections and outgoing regional councillor for Umbria, Andrea Liberati, announced that he will not stand as presidential candidate for the M5S. The candidates for the presidency of the Umbria region for the M5S were the former MEP Laura Agea, from

Città di Castello Città di Castello (); "Castle Town") is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Perugia, in the northern part of Umbria. It is situated on a slope of the Apennines, on the flood plain along the upper part of the river Tiber. The city is north of ...

, the doctor Gino Di Manici Proietti, candidate in the political elections in 2018 in the single-member constituency of Umbria - 02 and the outgoing regional councillor Maria Grazia Carbonari. The latter officially announced his availability for the office. Finally, the online primaries took place on 19 September, but the members voted only for the candidates in the list and not for the candidates for the presidency. In the days of the formation of the new government between PD and M5S, both the PD commissioner in Umbria Walter Verini and the independent candidate for the centre-left Andrea Fora showed interest in an electoral alliance between PD and M5S in the regional elections in Umbria, but some umbrian members of the Chamber of the Deputies for the M5S countered that an electoral alliance between PD and M5S would be "premature". Finally, after the new

Conte cabinet The first Conte government was the 65th government of the Italian Republic. It was led by Giuseppe Conte, an independent, and it was in office from 1 June 2018 to 5 September 2019. The cabinet was formed by a coalition between the Five Star Mo ...

Dario Franceschini Dario Franceschini (; born 19 October 1958) is an Italian lawyer, writer, and politician, member of the Democratic Party (PD), of which he briefly became leader in 2009. Franceschini served as Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities and To ...

and the PD secretary

proposed an alliance to the M5S but

initially refused, but finally he proposed a "civic pact" for Umbria, choosing an independent president as a candidate and independent regional assessors as well. The proposal was welcome by both the coalition led by the Democratic Party and the coalition of the civic left. The possible candidates were the entrepreneur and stylist Brunello Cucinelli, who refused, and the CEO of Novamont, Catia Bastioli. The Five Star Movement meanwhile called for another vote on 20 September on their online platform to decide whether to take part of the "civic pact" proposed by Di Maio itself.

Other lists

Among the other candidates, Claudio Ricci, former candidate for president of the centre-right in the regional election of 2015 and outgoing regional councillor for Umbria, announced his candidacy as an independent candidate with three civic lists, while the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

announced the candidacy of the former member of the

CGIL The Italian General Confederation of Labour (; CGIL) is a national trade union based in Italy. It was formed by agreement between socialists, communists, and Christian democrats in the "Pact of Rome" of June 1944. In 1950, socialists and Christi ...

trade union Rossano Rubicondi, Power to the People announced they would run with their own presidential candidate, Emiliano Camuzzi, a trade unionist, and finally the former general Antonio Pappalardo declared he will run for the Orange Vests, inspired by the

Yellow vests movement The Yellow Vests Protests or Yellow Jackets Protests or Yellow Vests Revolution (french: Mouvement des gilets jaunes, ) are a series of populist, grassroots weekly protests in France that began on 17 November 2018. At first the protestors advoc ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Parties and candidates

Opinion polls

Presidential candidates

Parties

Results

Donatella Tesei, backed by the centre-right coalition composed of Salvini's League, far-right Brothers of Italy and Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, was elected governor with 57.6% of the vote. The candidate for the coalition composed of the centre-left (led by the Democratic Party) and the Five Star Movement lost to the centre-right by more than 20 percent points. Umbria marks the eighth straight victory for the centre-right in regional ballots since the general election of March 2018.

Voter turnout

References

{{Elections in Umbria Elections in Umbria 2019 elections in Italy October 2019 events in Italy