Politics of Umbria

The Politics of Umbria, one of the 20 regions of Italy, takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democracy, whereby the president of the region is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Legislative power is vested in the Legislative Assembly of Umbria, while executive power is exercised by the Regional Cabinet led by the President, who is directly elected by the people. The current statute, which regulates the functioning of regional institutions, has been in force since 2005.

After World War II Umbria became a stronghold of the Italian Communist Party. The Communists and their successors (the Democratic Party of the Left, the Democrats of the Left and finally the Democratic Party) have governed the region since 1970. For these reasons, Umbria was long considered part of the so-called "Red belt".[1][2][3] The centre-left's dominance ended with the 2019 regional election, in which Donatella Tesei of Lega Nord–Umbria was elected President of Umbria by a landslide.[4][5]

Legislative branch

The Legislative Assembly of Umbria (Assemblea Legislativa dell'Umbria) is composed of 30 members. 24 councillors are elected in provincial constituencies by proportional representation using the largest remainder method with a Droop quota and open lists, while 6 councillors (elected in bloc) come from a "regional list", including the President-elect. One seat is reserved for the candidate who comes second. If a coalition wins more than 50% of the total seats in the Council with PR, only 3 candidates from the regional list will be chosen and the number of those elected in provincial constituencies will be 26. If the winning coalition receives less than 40% of votes special seats are added to the Council to ensure a large majority for the President's coalition.[6]

The Council is elected for a five-year term, but, if the President suffers a vote of no confidence, resigns or dies, under the simul stabunt, simul cadent clause introduced in 1999 (literally they will stand together or they will fall together), also the Council is dissolved and a snap election is called.[7]

Executive branch

The regional government (giunta regionale) is presided by the President of the Region (Presidente della Regione), who is elected for a five-year term, and is composed of the president and the ministers or assessors (assessori), who are currently five, including a vice president.[8]

List of presidents

Local government

Provinces

Umbria is divided in two provinces, which have been a traditional heartland of the left, from the Italian Communist Party to the current Democratic Party.

Province	Inhabitants	President		Party	Election
Perugia	671,821		Nando Mismetti	Democratic Party	2014
Terni	234,665		Leopoldo Di Girolamo	Democratic Party	2014

Municipalities

Umbria is also divided in 92 comuni (municipalities), most of which were established in the Middle Ages. A large majority of them are controlled by the Democratic Party.

Provincial capitals

Municipality	Inhabitants	Mayor		Party	Election
Perugia	168,169		Andrea Romizi	Forza Italia	2019
Terni	113,324		Leonardo Latini	Lega Nord Umbria	2018

Other municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants

Municipality	Inhabitants	Mayor		Party	Election
Foligno	58,162		Stefano Zuccarini	Independent (centre-right)	2014
Città di Castello	40,567		Luciano Bacchetta	Italian Socialist Party	2016
Spoleto	39,574		Umberto De Augustinis	Forza Italia	2018
Gubbio	32,998		Filippo Mario Stirati	Left Ecology Freedom	2014
Assisi	28,143		Stefania Proietti	Democratic Party	2016
Bastia Umbra	21,874		Stefano Ansideri	Forza Italia	2014
Corciano	21,332		Cristian Betti	Democratic Party	2018
Orvieto	21,130		Roberta Tardani	Independent (centre-right)	2019

Parties and elections

Latest regional election

In the latest regional election, which took place on 27 October 2019, Donatella Tesei of Lega Nord (Lega Nord Umbria) was elected President by a landslide, ending 49 years of uninterrupted "reign" by the Italian Communist Party and its successors. The League was largely the largest party.

27 October 2019 Umbrian regional election results

Candidates		Votes	%	Seats	Parties		Votes	%	Seats
	Donatella Tesei	255,158	57.55	1		League (LNU)	154,413	36.95	8
						Brothers of Italy	43,443	10.40	2
						Forza Italia	22,991	5.50	1
						Tesei for Umbria	16,424	3.93	1
						Civic Umbria	8,608	2.06	–
					Total		245,879	58.84	12
	Vincenzo Bianconi	166,179	37.48	1		Democratic Party	93,296	22.33	5
						Five Star Movement	30,953	7.41	1
						Bianconi for President	16,833	4.03	1
						Green Civic Left	6,727	1.61	–
						Green Europe	5,975	1.43	–
					Total		153,784	36.80	7
	Claudio Ricci	11,718	2.64	–		Ricci for President	5,261	1.26	–
						Civic Italy	2,175	0.52	–
						Umbria Proposal	1,475	0.35	–
					Total		8,911	2.13	–
	Rossano Rubicondi	4,484	1.01	–		Communist Party	4,108	0.98	–
	Emiliano Camuzzi	3,846	0.87	–		Italian Communist Party	2,098	0.50	–
						Power to the People	1,345	0.32	–
					Total		3,443	0.82	–
	Martina Carletti	910	0.21	–		Reconquer Italy	808	0.19	–
	Antonio Pappalardo	587	0.13	–		Orange Vests	524	0.13	–
	Giuseppe Cirillo	461	0.10	–		Party of Good Manners	420	0.10	–
Blank and invalid votes		11,841	2.60	–			-	-	-
Total candidates		443,343	100.00	2	Total parties		417,877	100.00	19
Registered voters/turnout		703,595	64.69	–			-	-	-
Source: Ministry of the Interior – Results

Popular vote Lega   36.95% PD   22.33% FdI   10.40% M5S   7.41% FI   5.50% Bianconi List   4.03% Tesei List   3.93% UC   2.06% SVC   1.61% EV   1.43% Ricci List   1.26% Others   3.09%

President Tesei   57.55% Bianconi   37.48% Ricci   2.64% Rubicondi   1.01% Camuzzi   0.87% Carletti   0.21% Pappalardo   0.13% Cirillo   0.10%

Voter turnout

Region	Time
	12:00	19:00	23:00
Umbria	19.55%	52.78%	64.69%
Province	Time
	12:00	19:00	23:00
Perugia	19.68%	53.08%	65.02%
Terni	19.19%	51.95%	63.74%
Source: Ministry of the Interior – Turnout

References

1. Ceccarini, Luigi; Newell, James L. (2019). The Italian General Election of 2018: Italy in Uncharted Territory. Springer. p. 252. ISBN 9783030136178. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
2. Newell, James L. (2010). The Politics of Italy: Governance in a Normal Country. Cambridge University Press. p. 229. ISBN 9781139788892. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
3. Barbieri, Giovanni (2012). "The Northern League in the 'Red Belt' of Italy" (PDF). Bulletin of Italian Politics. University of Glasgow. 4 (2): 277–294. ISSN 1759-3077. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
4. Giuffrida, Angela (28 October 2019). "Salvini's coalition sweeps to power in Umbria elections". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
5. "Centre-right wins Umbria election with landslide - English". ANSA.it. 28 October 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
6. La Repubblica – Regional electoral law
7. "Regional Council of Lombardy – 1999 Constitutional law" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2009. Retrieved 6 March 2009.
8. http://www.regione.umbria.it/giunta-regionale

External links

• Umbria Region
• Legislative Assembly of Umbria
• Statute of Umbria