2019 Basilicata regional election
# 2019 Basilicata regional election

The 2019 Basilicata regional election took place on 24 March 2019. The election was for all 20 members of the Regional Council of Basilicata, as well as for the President of the Region, who is also a member of the council. This election was the last one in Italy before the 2019 European Parliament election and the third one of the 2019 Italian regional elections.

The original election date was 26 May 2019, but a snap election was called upon the resignation of the incumbent president Marcello Pittella, a member of the Democratic Party (PD), on 24 January 2019. After the subsequent dissolution of the Regional Council, Vice President Flavia Franconi (PD) became acting president.

The centre-left coalition had won each regional election in Basilicata since 1995 with a large margin. In the 2018 Italian general election, both the centre-right coalition and the M5S substantially improved their performance: the centre-right, for the first time, tied with the centre-left (including LeU, which in 2018 was not a member of the coalition led by PD) and the M5S won about double the votes gained by the PD and LeU combined.

## Electoral law

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, according to the Tatarella Law of 1995. The remaining 19 seats will be assigned on a province basis, proportionally with respect to the population of the provinces of Potenza and Matera.

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). 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. 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.

The voter can express two preferences, reserving the second to a candidate of a different sex, otherwise the second preferences will not be valid. Among the innovations there is 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.

## Campaign

On 20 February 2019, governor Marcello Pittella announced he would not run for a second term, and decided to support Carlo Trerotola (PD), the new centre-left candidate. With the retirement of Pittella, the majority of the left-wing Free and Equal (LeU) returned in the centre-left coalition with the list Progressives for Basilicat". A joint list of left-wing parties ran alone with Valerio Tramutoli as its presidential candidate.

The presidential candidate of the centre-right coalition is Vito Bardi, an independent politician and former General of Guardia di Finanza who later joined Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia. The presidential candidate of the Five Star Movement (M5S) was Antonio Mattia. The presidential candidate of Lega Sud Ausonia, a regional party that usually run alone, Antonio Postorivo, was excluded due to bureaucratic issues.

## Parties and candidates

| Political party or alliance | Political party or alliance | Constituent lists | Constituent lists | Previous result | Previous result | Candidate | Candidate |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Political party or alliance | Political party or alliance | Constituent lists | Constituent lists | Votes (%) | Seats | Candidate | Candidate |
| | Centre-left coalition | | Democratic Party (PD) | 24.8 | 4 | Carlo Trerotola |
| | Centre-left coalition | | Federation of the Greens–Reality Italy (FdV–RI) | 5.9 (RI) | 1 (RI) | Carlo Trerotola |
| | Centre-left coalition | | Progressives for Basilicata (incl. Art.1) | — | — | Carlo Trerotola |
| | Centre-left coalition | | Forward Basilicata (AB) | — | — | Carlo Trerotola |
| | Centre-left coalition | | Trerotola for President (CD – Popular Project) (incl. PRI) | — | — | Carlo Trerotola |
| | Centre-left coalition | | Basilicata First | — | — | Carlo Trerotola |
| | Centre-left coalition | | Italian Socialist Party (PSI) | 7.5 | 1 | Carlo Trerotola |
| | Centre-right coalition | | Forza Italia (FI) | 12.3 | 2 | Vito Bardi |
| | Centre-right coalition | | Brothers of Italy (FdI) | 5.1 | 1 | Vito Bardi |
| | Centre-right coalition | | League (Lega) | — | — | Vito Bardi |
| | Centre-right coalition | | Identity and Action (IDeA) | — | — | Vito Bardi |
| | Centre-right coalition | | Positive Basilicata – Bardi for President (BP) | — | — | Vito Bardi |
| | Five Star Movement (M5S) | Five Star Movement (M5S) | Five Star Movement (M5S) | 9.0 | 2 | Antonio Mattia |
| | Possible Basilicata (incl. SI, PRC, DemA) | Possible Basilicata (incl. SI, PRC, DemA) | Possible Basilicata (incl. SI, PRC, DemA) | — | — | Valerio Tramutoli |

## Opinion polls

| Date | Polling firm | Trerotola | Bardi | Mattia | Tramutoli | Undecided | Lead |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 24 Mar 2019 | Election results | 33.1 | 42.2 | 20.3 | 4.4 | N/A | 9.1 |
| 5–8 Mar 2019 | Venum (without undecided) | 35.0 | 38.0 | 22.0 | 5.0 | 0.0 | 3.0 |
| 5–8 Mar 2019 | Venum (with undecided) | 26.1 | 28.7 | 16.5 | 3.8 | 24.9 | 2.6 |

## Results

24 March 2019 Basilicata regional election results :

| Candidates | Candidates | Votes | % | Seats | Parties | Parties | Votes | % | Seats |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | Vito Bardi | 124,716 | 42.20 | 1 | | League | 55,393 | 19.15 | 6 |
| | Vito Bardi | 124,716 | 42.20 | 1 | | Forza Italia | 26,457 | 9.14 | 3 |
| | Vito Bardi | 124,716 | 42.20 | 1 | | Brothers of Italy | 17,112 | 5.91 | 1 |
| | Vito Bardi | 124,716 | 42.20 | 1 | | Identity and Action | 12,094 | 4.18 | 1 |
| | Vito Bardi | 124,716 | 42.20 | 1 | | Positive Basilicata–Bardi for President | 11,492 | 3.97 | 1 |
| | Vito Bardi | 124,716 | 42.20 | 1 | Total | Total | 122,548 | 42.36 | 12 |
| | Carlo Trerotola | 97,866 | 33.11 | 1 | | Forward Basilicata | 24,957 | 8.63 | 2 |
| | Carlo Trerotola | 97,866 | 33.11 | 1 | | Democratic Party | 22,423 | 7.65 | 2 |
| | Carlo Trerotola | 97,866 | 33.11 | 1 | | Progressives for Basilicata | 12,908 | 4.46 | – |
| | Carlo Trerotola | 97,866 | 33.11 | 1 | | Italian Socialist Party | 10,913 | 3.77 | – |
| | Carlo Trerotola | 97,866 | 33.11 | 1 | | Basilicata First | 9,748 | 3.37 | – |
| | Carlo Trerotola | 97,866 | 33.11 | 1 | | Democratic Centre – Popular Project | 9,559 | 3.30 | – |
| | Carlo Trerotola | 97,866 | 33.11 | 1 | | Federation of the Greens–Reality Italy | 5,492 | 1.90 | – |
| | Carlo Trerotola | 97,866 | 33.11 | 1 | Total | Total | 96,000 | 33.18 | 4 |
| | Antonio Mattia | 60,070 | 20.32 | – | | Five Star Movement | 58,658 | 20.27 | 3 |
| | Valerio Tramutoli | 12,912 | 4.37 | – | | Possible Basilicata | 12,124 | 4.19 | – |
| Invalid votes | Invalid votes | 11,624 | – | | | | | | |
| Total candidates | Total candidates | 307,188 | 100.00 | 2 | Total parties | Total parties | 289,330 | 100.00 | 19 |
| Registered voters | Registered voters | 573,970 | 53.52 | | | | | | |
| Source: Ministry of the Interior – Results ||||||||||

Popular vote

M5S

20.27%

Lega

19.15%

FI

9.14%

AB

8.63%

PD

7.65%

FdI

5.91%

PpB

4.46%

Pos

4.19%

IDeA

4.18%

BP–Bardi

3.97%

PSI

3.77%

PB

3.37%

Trerotola

3.30%

FdV–RI

1.90% :

President

Bardi

42.20%

Trerotola

33.11%

Mattia

20.32%

Tramutoli

4.37% :

### Results by province

| Province | Bardi | Trerotola | Mattia | Tramutoli | Turnout |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Potenza | 82,244 (41.01%) | 69,016 (34.41%) | 40,103 (20.00%) | 9,183 (4.58%) | 52.40% |
| Matera | 42,472 (44.70%) | 28,850 (30.36%) | 19,967 (21.01%) | 3,729 (3.92%) | 56.03% |

### Results by capital city

| City | Bardi | Trerotola | Mattia | Tramutoli | Turnout |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Potenza | 15,688 (40.55%) | 11,863 (30.6%) | 7,558 (19.54%) | 3,576 (9.24) | 68.79% |
| Matera | 10,969 (37.51%) | 7,740 (26.47%) | 9,039 (30.91%) | 1,492 (5.10%) | 59.88% |

### Seats by province

| Province | Lega | PD | FI | M5S | FdI | Others | Total |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Potenza | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 12 |
| Matera | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 |

### Voter turnout

| Region | Time | Time | Time |
| - | - | - | - |
| Region | 12:00 | 19:00 | 23:00 |
| Basilicata | 13.31% | 39.73% | 53.52% |
| Province | Time | Time | Time |
| Province | 12:00 | 19:00 | 23:00 |
| Matera | 13.08% | 40.82% | 56.03% |
| Potenza | 13.42% | 39.24% | 52.40% |
| Source: Ministry of the Interior – Turnout ||||
