Politics of Marche

The Politics of Marche, 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 Regional Council, while executive power is exercised by the Regional Government led by the President, who is directly elected by the people. The current Statute, which regulates the functioning of the regional institutions, has been in force since 2004.

Prior to the rise of Fascism, most of the deputies elected in Marche were part of the liberal establishment (see Historical Right, Historical Left and Liberals), which governed Italy for decades. The region, especially its northern part (largely inhabited by Romagnoli), was also a stronghold of the Italian Republican Party. In the 1919 general election Marche was one of the regions in which the Italian People's Party, while in the 1924 general election the National Fascist Party took more than 60%.^[1]

After World War II Marche was an early stronghold of Christian Democracy and later one of the few regions where the Christian Democrats and the Italian Communist Party were close in terms of the popular vote. However, from 1970 to 1995 the Italian Socialist Party teamed up with the Christian Democrats and long held the presidency, leaving the Communists out of the regional government. Since 1995 the region has been a stronghold of the post-Communist parties, from the Democratic Party of the Left to the present-day Democratic Party, and became part of the so-called "Red belt", along with Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany and Umbria.^[2]^[3]^[4]

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 by the President and the Ministers (Assessori), who cannot be more than ten, including a vice president.^[5]

List of presidents

President		Term of office		Party	Coalition	Administration	Legislature
Presidents elected by the Regional Council of Marche (1970–1995)
1	Giuseppe Serrini (1917–1994)	1 August 1970	19 December 1972	DC	DC • PSI • PSDI • PRI	Serrini	I (1970)
2	Dino Tiberi (1923–2013)	19 December 1972	10 September 1975	DC	DC • PSI • PSDI • PRI	Tiberi	I (1970)
3	Adriano Ciaffi (b. 1936)	10 September 1975	7 September 1978	DC	DC • PSI • PSDI • PRI	Ciaffi	II (1975)
4	Emidio Massi (1922–2016)	7 September 1978	18 November 1980	PSI	DC • PSI • PSDI • PRI	Massi I	II (1975)
		18 November 1980	21 October 1985		DC • PSI • PSDI • PRI	Massi II	III (1980)
		21 October 1985	22 July 1990		DC • PSI • PSDI • PRI	Massi III	IV (1985)
5	Rodolfo Giampaoli (b. 1939)	22 July 1990	29 July 1993	DC	DC • PSI • PSDI • PRI	Gianpaoli	V (1990)
6	Gaetano Recchi (b. 1934)	29 July 1993	19 June 1995	PSI	DC • PSI • FdV	Recchi	V (1990)
Directly-elected presidents (since 1995)
7	Vito D'Ambrosio (b. 1943)	19 June 1995	17 April 2000	PDS DS	PDS • PRC • FdV	D'Ambrosio I	VI (1995)
7	Vito D'Ambrosio (b. 1943)	17 April 2000	5 April 2005	PDS DS	DS • PRC • PPI • FdV	D'Ambrosio II	VII (2000)
8	Gian Mario Spacca (b. 1953)	5 April 2005	30 March 2010	DL PD	DS • DL • PRC • FdV • PdCI	Spacca I	VIII (2005)
8	Gian Mario Spacca (b. 1953)	30 March 2010	12 June 2015	DL PD	PD • IdV • UDC • FdV	Spacca II	IX (2010)
9	Luca Ceriscioli (b. 1966)	12 June 2015	30 September 2020	PD	PD • IdV • UDC • FdV • PSI	Ceriscioli	X (2015)
10	Francesco Acquaroli (b. 1974)	30 September 2020	In office	FdI	League • FdI • FI	Acquaroli	XI (2020)

Legislative branch

The Regional Legislative Assembly of Marche (Assemblea Legislativa Regionale delle Marche) is composed of 40 members. 32 councillors are elected in provincial constituencies by proportional representation using the largest remainder method with a Droop quota and open lists, while 8 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 4 candidates from the regional list will be chosen and the number of those elected in provincial constituencies will be 36. 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]

Local government

Provinces

Province	Inhabitants		Party	Election
Ancona	482,886	Daniele Carnevali	Independent (centre-right)	2021
Pesaro and Urbino	364,896	Giuseppe Paolini	Democratic Party	2018
Macerata	324,188	Antonio Pettinari	Union of the Centre	2016
Ascoli Piceno	214,014	Sergio Fabiani	Democratic Party	2018
Fermo	177,993	Moira Canigola	Democratic Party	2016

Municipalities

Provincial capitals

Municipality	Inhabitants		Party	Election
Ancona	102,500	Valeria Mancinelli	Democratic Party	2018
Ascoli Piceno	51,168	Marco Fioravanti	Brothers of Italy	2019
Fermo	37,869	Paolo Calcinaro	Civic list	2020
Macerata	43,000	Sandro Parcaroli	Lega Nord	2020
Pesaro	98,438	Matteo Ricci	Democratic Party	2019

Other notable municipalities

Municipality	Inhabitants		Party	Election
Fano	63,922	Massimo Seri	Democratic Party	2019
San Benedetto del Tronto	48,036	Pasqualino Piunti	Forza Italia	2016
Senigallia	44,673	Massimo Olivetti	Independent (centre-right)	2020
Jesi	40,502	Massimo Bacci	Independent	2017
Civitanova Marche	40,400	Fabrizio Ciarapica	Forza Italia	2017
Urbino	15,501	Maurizio Gambini	Independent (centre-right)	2019

Parties and elections

Latest regional election

In the latest regional election, which took place on 20–21 September 2020, Francesco Acquaroli of the Brothers of Italy (FdI) was elected president, giving to the centre-right coalition its first victory in the region.

20–21 September 2020 Marche regional election results
Candidates		Votes	%	Seats	Parties		Votes	%	Seats

	Francesco Acquaroli	361,186	49.13	1		League	139,438	22.38	8
						Brothers of Italy	116,231	18.66	7
						Forza Italia – Civics for Marche	36,716	5.89	2
						Populars Marche – Union of the Centre	14,067	2.26	1
						Civitas – Civics	12,958	2.08	1
						Movement for Marche	5,730	0.92	–
					Total		325,140	52.19	19
	Maurizio Mangialardi	274,152	37.29	1		Democratic Party	156,394	25.11	7
						Italia Viva	19,742	3.17	–
						Rebirth Marche	17,268	2.77	1
						Mangialardi for President List	12,884	2.07	–
						Our Marche and the Centre	11,625	1.87	–
						Brave Marche	9,270	1.49	–
					Total		227,183	36.48	8
	Gian Mario Mercorelli	63,355	8.62	–		Five Star Movement	44,330	7.12	2
	Roberto Mancini	16,879	2.30	–		Depends on Us	11,834	1.90	–
	Fabio Pasquinelli	10,381	1.41	–		Communist!	8,184	1.31	–
	Sabrina Paola Banzato	4,121	0.56	–		Vox Italia	2,954	0.47	–
	Anna Rita Ianetti	3,984	0.54	–		3V Movement	2,689	0.43	–
	Alessandra Contigiani	1,142	0.16	–		Reconquer Italy	640	0.10	–

Blank and invalid votes		–	–
Total candidates		735,200	100.00	2	Total parties		622,954	100.00	29
Registered voters/turnout		–	59.75
Source: Marche Region – Results

References

^ Piergiorgio Corbetta; Maria Serena Piretti, Atlante storico-elettorale d'Italia, Zanichelli, Bologna 2009
^ 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.
^ Newell, James L. (2010). The Politics of Italy: Governance in a Normal Country. Cambridge University Press. p. 229. ISBN 9781139788892. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
^ Barbieri, Giovanni (2012). "The Northern League in the 'Red Belt' of Italy" (PDF). Bulletin of Italian Politics. 4 (2). University of Glasgow: 277–294. ISSN 1759-3077. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
^ "Regione Marche > Entra in Regione > Istituzione > Assessorati".
^ La Repubblica – Regional electoral law
^ "Regional Council of Lombardy – 1999 Constitutional law" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2009. Retrieved 6 March 2009.

External links

[Corbetta-1] Piergiorgio Corbetta; Maria Serena Piretti, Atlante storico-elettorale d'Italia, Zanichelli, Bologna 2009

[2] 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.

[3] Newell, James L. (2010). The Politics of Italy: Governance in a Normal Country. Cambridge University Press. p. 229. ISBN 9781139788892. Retrieved 15 October 2019.

[4] Barbieri, Giovanni (2012). "The Northern League in the 'Red Belt' of Italy" (PDF). Bulletin of Italian Politics. 4 (2). University of Glasgow: 277–294. ISSN 1759-3077. Retrieved 15 October 2019.

[5] "Regione Marche > Entra in Regione > Istituzione > Assessorati".

[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.

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