2006 Sicilian regional election

The Sicilian regional election of 2006 for the renewal of the Sicilian Regional Assembly and the Presidency of Sicily was held on 28 May 2006.

2006 Sicilian regional election
28 May 2006
All 80 seats to the Sicilian Regional Assembly
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Salvatore Cuffaro Rita Borsellino
Party UDC Independent
Alliance House of Freedoms The Union
Last election 57 seats, 59.1% 29 seats, 36.6%
Seats won 62 28
Seat change 5 1
Popular vote 1,374,706 1,078,179
Percentage 53.1% 41.6%
Swing 6.0% 5.0%
President before election

Salvatore Cuffaro
UDC

 President-elect

Salvatore Cuffaro
UDC

The election was competed by three competitors: Salvatore Cuffaro, incumbent President and House of Freedoms candidate; Rita Borsellino, candidate of The Union; and Nello Musumeci, MEP elected for the National Alliance and now leader of the autonomist movement Sicilian Alliance. 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 which saw the centre-right win all the 61 Sicilian ridings. Cuffaro is a prominent member of Union of Christian and Centre Democrats, a Christian democratic party. Often associated to the mafia by his critics because of an open investigation by the magistrature of Palermo which brought to a trial commitment, Cuffaro will nevertheless head the regional UDC list of candidates for the April general election.

Rita Borsellino, 61, sister of the late judge Paolo assassinated by the mafia, gained the centre-left candidacy after having won a primary election with over 67% of votes. She is not member of any party. If elected, she would be the first female president ever in Sicily.

Nello Musumeci, 51, is a former member of the right-wing National Alliance party; he served as President of the Province of Catania from 1994 to 2003. He left National Alliance in September 2005 in order to found a new autonomist party, Sicilian Alliance, of which he is the leader. Despite his past political experiences, Musumeci is highly unlikely to have some actual possibility to win the election.

Pollster claimed this election to be much closer than five years ago, 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
28 May 2006 Sicilian regional election results
Candidates Votes % Seats Parties Votes % Seats
Salvatore Cuffaro 1,374,706 53.09 9
Forza Italia 471,634 19.17 17
Union of Christian and Centre Democrats 319,349 12.98 11
Movement for Autonomy – New Sicily 308,219 12.53 10
National Alliance 259,927 10.56 9
The Kite – President List 139,344 5.66 6
Tricolour Flame 8,528 0.35 –
Christian Democracy for the Autonomies 6,530 0.26 –
Total 1,513,531 61.52 53
Rita Borsellino 1,078,179 41.64 1
Democrats of the Left 344,551 14.00 12
Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy 295,762 12.02 12
United for Sicily (SDI–IdV–PRC–PdCI–FdV–Sicilian Spring) 127,947 5.20 3
Rita – My Commitment for Sicily 119,177 4.84 –
Total 887,437 36.07 27
Nello Musumeci 136,545 5.27 – Sicilian Alliance 59,380 2.41 –
Total candidates 2,589,430 100.00 10 Total parties 2,460,348 100.00 80
Source: Sicilian Region
Popular vote
FI
 
 19.17%
DS
 
 14.00%
UDC
 
 12.98%
MpA–NS
 
 12.53%
DL
 
 12.02%
AN
 
 10.56%
LA–LP
 
 5.66%
UpS
 
 5.20%
Rita
 
 4.84%
AS
 
 2.41%
President
Cuffaro
 
 53.09%
Borsellino
 
 41.64%
Musumeci
 
 5.27%

Sources
  • The Independent (2006-05-30). "Sicily elects governor linked with Mafia". London. Archived from the original on 2006-09-07. Retrieved 2006-05-30.
  • BBC (2006-05-30). "Prodi wins key cities in election". BBC News. Retrieved 2006-05-30.

Candidates
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