2006 Italian Senate election in Lombardy

2006 Italian Senate election in Lombardy
All 47 Lombard seats in the Italian Senate
Majority before election; House of Freedoms;	New Majority ; House of Freedoms;

Lombardy renewed its delegation to the Italian Senate on April 9, 2006. This election was a part of national Italian general election of 2006 even if, according to the Italian Constitution, every senatorial challenge in each Region is a single and independent race.

Differently from the national result, the election was won by the centre-right coalition of the House of Freedoms. Forza Italia was the largest party in the election with 28%, ahead of the Democrats of the Left (12%) and Lega Nord (11%). Eleven provinces gave a majority or a plurality to Silvio Berlusconi's alliance, while voters of the Province of Mantua supported the new Prime Minister of Italy Romano Prodi.

Background

Silvio Berlusconi's House of Freedoms arrived to this election after a series of bad results. Forza Italia had lost 5 points at regional level during the 2004 European election, while the Province of Milan shifted to the left in the same occasion. 2005 regional election had confirmed centre-right Regional President Roberto Formigoni, but its coalition lost more than 8 points.

On the other side, in 2005 Romano Prodi had launched his new larger coalition, The Union, merging in a single alliance quite all oppositions to Berlusconi's majority: The Olive Tree, the Communist Refoundation Party and Antonio Di Pietro's Italy of Values, which in Lombardy were joined by the Lombard Autonomy League.

Electoral law

The new electoral law for the Senate was established in 2005 by the Calderoli Law, and it is a form of semi-proportional representation. A party presents its own closed list and it can join other parties in alliances. The coalition which receives a plurality automatically wins at least 26 seats. Respecting this condition, seats are divided between coalitions, and subsequently to party lists, using the largest remainder method with a Hare quota. To receive seats, a party must overcome the barrage of 8% of the vote if it contests a single race, or of 3% of the vote if it runs in alliance.

Results


Coalition leader	votes	votes (%)	seats	Party	votes	votes (%)	seats	change
Silvio Berlusconi	3,342,468	57.0	27	Forza Italia	1,623,745	27.7	14	-1
				Lega Nord	652,047	11.1	5	-4
				National Alliance	572,242	9.8	5	-2
				Union of Christian and Centre Democrats	343,269	5.9	3	+2
				Others	151,165	2.5	-	-1
Romano Prodi	2,501,467	42.6	20	Democrats of the Left	726,105	12.4	7	+3
				Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy	588,856	10.0	6	+2
				Communist Refoundation Party	407,939	7.0	4	+3
				Together with the Union	588,856	4.8	3	=
				Italy of Values	150,116	2.6	-	-1
				Rose in the Fist	128,849	2.2	-	-
				Others	220,050	3.8	-	-1
Others	25,193	0.4	-	Others	25,193	0.4	-	-
Total coalitions	5,869,128	100.0	47	Total parties	5,869,128	100.0	47	=

Source: Ministry of the Interior

Lombard delegation to Senate

Forza Italia

Roberto Formigoni^[1]
- Obliged to resign on July 12. Substituted by Antonio Del Pennino.
Guido Possa
Ombretta Colli
Gianfranco Rotondi
Gianpiero Carlo Cantoni
Marcello Dell'Utri
Antonio Tomassini
Nitto Francesco Palma
Luigi Scotti
Romano Comincioli
Luigi Grillo
Enrico Pianetta
Valerio Carrara
Egidio Sterpa

Democrats of the Left

The Daisy

Lega Nord

National Alliance

Communist Refoundation Party

Union of Christian and Centre Democrats

Together with the Union

Source: Italian Senate

References

^ According to article 122 of Italian Constitution, nobody can be both member of Parliament and member of a Regional Council. Despite this constitutional provision, ordinary law allows three months of contemporary membership.

[1] According to article 122 of Italian Constitution, nobody can be both member of Parliament and member of a Regional Council. Despite this constitutional provision, ordinary law allows three months of contemporary membership.

[1]