While the original election date was 26 May 2019, a snap election was called upon the resignation of the then incumbent president Marcello Pittella, a member of the Democratic Party, on 24 January 2019. After the subsequent dissolution of the Regional Council, the vice-president Flavia Franconi, also a member of the Democratic Party, became the acting president, while Carlo Trerotola was chosen as the candidate.
The election was won by the centre-right coalition and their presidential candidate Vito Bardi of Forza Italia, amid a divided centre-left coalition that was also marred by scandals. It was the centre-right coalition's first regional win in Basilicata since direct elections have been held since 1995 and Bardi was the first right-wing president since the office was established in 1970.
The election was called on 20 November 2018, with the chosen date being 26 May 2019.[1] It was later moved to 24 March 2019 after Marcello Pittella's resignation as president. Since the 1995 Basilicata regional election, the centre-left coalition had won each regional election with a large margin. In the 2018 Italian general election, both the centre-right coalition and the M5S substantially improved their performance; for the first time, the centre-right tied with the centre-left (including Free and Equal, which in 2018 was not a member of the coalition led by Democratic Party), and the Five Star Movement won about double the votes gained by the Democratic Party and Free and Equal combined in the Chamber of Deputies.[nb 2] Due to the centre-left coalition's rooting in the region prior to the centre-right coalition's win, which ended the centre-left coalition's 24-year rule,[2] Basilicata was considered to be politically the Emilia-Romagna of Southern Italy and Southern Italy's red region.[3][4]
Electoral system
In 2018, a new electoral law was established for the 2019 regional election. The new electoral law follows proportional representation with a threshold of 3% for party lists and 4% for lists in coalitions that failed to reach the 8% threshold. If the first coalition wins 30% of the vote, the parties collectively receive 11 (55%) to 14 seats (67%). For the presidential election, a candidate needs to win by a simple majority (first-past-the-post).[5] To cast his vote, the voter can make a single mark on the name of a presidential candidate, and in this case the vote is not transmitted to any party list. If the voter marks the symbol of one of the lists, the vote is automatically transferred to the candidate supported by that list.[6] Since the approval of the new regional electoral law in 2018, split voting is not possible, i.e. voting on a list and a candidate who is not supported by it.[7]
According to the Tatarella Law of 1995 still in force, in addition to the newly elected president, the candidate for president of the coalition who ranks second automatically gains one seat (the first of his coalition or single party list) in the Regional Council. The remaining 19 seats are assigned on a province basis, proportionally with respect to the population of the provinces of Potenza and Matera. The voter can express two preferences, reserving the second to a candidate of a different sex, otherwise the second preferences will not be valid.[8] Among the innovations are the introduction of gender equality (each party list cannot have more than 60% of candidates of the same sex) and the abolition of the price list and of the split vote.[9]
Campaign
On 20 February 2019, Marcello Pittella, who was endorsed by the Democratic Party and the Lucanian Radicals,[10][11] announced he would not run for a second term,[12][13][nb 3] and decided to support Carlo Trerotola, the new centre-left candidate.[15] With the retirement of Pittella, the majority of the left-wing Free and Equal returned in the centre-left coalition with the list Progressives for Basilicata.[16] A joint list of left-wing parties ran alone with Valerio Tramutoli as its presidential candidate.[17]
^At the time, Pittella was a divisive figure within the centre-left coalition, and was being investigated since 6 July 2018; he was arrested and placed under house arrest on charges of being the deus ex machina of a system of rigged competitions for the assignment of roles in regional healthcare. Due to the Severino Law, he resigned as president of Basilicata at the beginning of 2019. On 22 December 2021, the Court of Matera acquitted him of all charges and rejected the request for three years in prison presented by the public prosecutor as part of what came to be known as the Sanitopoli lucana scandal, while seven managers of healthcare companies had instead been sentenced to sentences between two and five years. Pittella said: "These have been difficult, hard years. I was a front-page monster. But I always had the faith that time could reveal the truth." On 1 March 2024, the Potenza Court of Appeal confirmed the acquittal of Pittella.[14]
