2005 Apulian regional election

The Apulian regional election of 2005 took place on 3–4 April 2005.

2005 Apulian regional election

← 2000 3–4 April 2005 2010 →

All 70 seats to the Regional Council of Apulia
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Nichi Vendola Raffaele Fitto
Party PRC Forza Italia
Alliance The Union House of Freedoms
Last election 22 seats, 43.5% 38 seats, 54.0%
Seats won 42 28
Seat change Increase20 Decrease10
Popular vote 1,165,536 1,151,405
Percentage 49.8% 49.2%
Swing Increase6.3% Decrease5.8%


President before election

Raffaele Fitto
FI

Elected President

Nichi Vendola
PRC

Nichi Vendola (Communist Refoundation Party) defeated incumbent Raffaele Fitto (Forza Italia). The success of Vendola came somewhat unexpected. In a Southern Italian Region, expected to be morally conservative, Vendola, a communist and homosexual, defeated Fitto, a conservative Christian democrat. Vendola was the first candidate ever to be appointed by its coalition through a primary election instead of agreements between parties. A defeat of Vendola might have resulted in a cancellation of the primary election of The Union for choosing the candidate for Prime Minister in the 2006 general election.

Centre-left primary election

edit

The centre-left candidate was chosen through primary elections, which were won by surprise by Nichi Vendola.[1]

Candidate Party Votes %
Nichi Vendola PRC 40,358 50.9
Francesco Boccia DL 38,676 49.1
Total 79,034 100.0

Results

edit
3–4 April 2005 Apulian regional election results
 
Candidates Votes % Seats Parties Votes % Seats
Nichi Vendola 1,165,536 49.84 1
Democrats of the Left 356,369 16.63 14
Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy 208,806 9.74 8
Communist Refoundation Party 109,146 5.09 4
Italian Democratic Socialists 86,096 4.01 3
Union of Democrats for Europe 70,293 3.28 3
The Apulian Spring 55,335 2.58 3
Party of Italian Communists 48,141 2.24 2
Autonomist Socialists – PSDIMRE 47,511 2.22 2
Italy of Values 38,120 1.78 1
Federation of the Greens 33,309 1.55 1
United Democratic Christians 8,397 0.39
Pensioners' Party 3,959 0.18
Total 1,065,752 49.69 41
Raffaele Fitto 1,151,405 49.24 1
Forza Italia 381,663 17.80 10
National Alliance 259,563 12.10 7
Apulia First of All 196,281 9.15 5
Union of Christian and Centre Democrats 167,038 7.79 4
New PSIPRI 48,109 2.24 1
Social Idea Movement 10,099 0.47
Total 1.062.753 49.55 27
Gianfelice Galassi 10,973 0.47 Social Alternative 9,368 0.44
Luca Scalabrini 10,477 0.45 Christian Democracy 6,791 0.32
Total candidates 2,338,391 100.00 2 Total parties 2,144,664 100.00 68
Source: Ministry of the Interior – Historical Archive of Elections

References

edit