The 2006 Sicilian regional election for the renewal of the

Sicilian Regional Assembly The Sicilian Regional Assembly is the legislative body of Sicily. While it has a long history as an autonomous entity, the modern Region of Sicily was established by Royal Decree on 15 May 1946, before the Italian Republic. The Regional Assembly ...

and the Presidency of

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

was held on 28 May 2006. The election was competed by three competitors: Salvatore Cuffaro, incumbent President and

House of Freedoms The House of Freedoms ( it, Casa delle Libertà, CdL) was a major centre-right political and electoral alliance in Italy, led by Silvio Berlusconi. History The CdL was the successor of the Pole of Freedoms/Pole of Good Government and the Pole fo ...

candidate;

Rita Borsellino Rita Borsellino (; 2 June 1945 – 15 August 2018) was an Italian Sicilian anti-Mafia activist, politician and, between 2009 and 2014, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Democratic Party. Early life Borsellino was born in Pale ...

, candidate of

The Union The Union may refer to: Politics * The Union (Germany) or CDU/CSU, the partnership of the German political parties the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union * The Union (Italy), a former coalition of political parties in Ital ...

; and

Nello Musumeci Sebastiano "Nello" Musumeci (born 21 January 1955) is a right-wing Italian politician. Musumeci is serving as Minister for Civil Protection and Sea Policies since 22 October 2022 in the government of Giorgia Meloni. He previously served as Presi ...

, MEP elected for the National Alliance and now leader of the autonomist movement

Sicilian Alliance The Sicilian Alliance ( it.: ''Alleanza Siciliana''; sic.: ''Allianza Siciliana'') was a minor autonomist and national-conservative political party in Sicily, Italy. It was founded in 2005 and was led by Nello Musumeci, an MEP who was elected ...

. In the end, Cuffaro won the election, despite a heavy loss of support compared with five years before, when he was elected with 59.1% of votes.

Candidates

Salvatore Cuffaro, 48, was first elected at the Sicilian Presidency in the July 2001 with 59.1% of regional votes; that election was held immediately after the

national election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

which saw the centre-right win all the 61 Sicilian ridings. Cuffaro is a prominent member of

Union of Christian and Centre Democrats The Union of the Centre ( it, Unione di Centro, UdC), whose complete name is "Union of Christian and Centre Democrats" (''Unione dei Democratici Cristiani e Democratici di Centro'', UDC), is a Christian-democratic political party in Italy. Lore ...

, a Christian democratic party. Often associated to the mafia by his critics because of an open investigation by the magistrature of

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

which brought to a trial commitment, Cuffaro was nevertheless head the regional UDC list of candidates for the April general election. Rita Borsellino, 61, sister of the late judge

Paolo Paolo is both a given name and a surname, the Italian form of the name Paul. Notable people with the name include: People with the given name Paolo Art *Paolo Alboni (1671–1734), Italian painter *Paolo Abbate (1884–1973), Italian-American s ...

assassinated by the mafia, gained the centre-left candidacy after having won a

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

with over 67% of votes against Ferdinando Latteri. She was not member of any party. Nello Musumeci, 51, was a former member of the right-wing National Alliance party; he served as President of the

Province of Catania The Province of Catania ( it, Provincia di Catania; scn, Pruvincia di Catania) was a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in southern Italy. Its capital was the city of Catania. It had an area of and a total population of about 1, ...

from 1994 to 2003. He left National Alliance in September 2005 in order to found a new autonomist party,

, of which he was the leader. Pollster claimed this election to be much closer than five years earlier, and majority of surveys even put Borsellino to lead over Cuffaro

However, Sicily confirmed one more time in the April 2006 national election, in which the House of Freedoms obtained 57% of regional votes, to be still a centre-right stronghold. The election was in fact characterized by separate contemporary votes for centre-right parties and Rita Borsellino as president, as the sum of centre-right coalition parties obtained over 60% of votes. In any case, the disjoint vote was not sufficient to ensure Borsellino to win the election, and Cuffaro was confirmed president of Sicily.

Results

Sources

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External links

Candidates

Salvatore "Totò" Cuffaro

Rita Borsellino

Sebastiano "Nello" Musumeci
{{Elections in Sicily Elections in Sicily 2006 elections in Italy May 2006 events in Europe