2020 Apulian regional election

The 2020 Apulian regional election took place in Apulia, Italy, on 20 and 21 September. It was originally scheduled to take place on May 31, 2020, but it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy.^[1][2]

2020 Apulian regional election

← 2015 20–21 September 2020 2025 →
All 51 seats to the Regional Council of Apulia
Turnout	56.4% (5.3%)
Majority party Minority party   Leader Michele Emiliano Raffaele Fitto Party Independent Brothers of Italy Alliance Centre-left Centre-right Seats won 28 18 Seat change 2 5 Popular vote 871,028 724,928 Percentage 46.8% 38.9% Swing 0.3% 6.2%
President before election Michele Emiliano Democratic Party President Michele Emiliano Independent

Electoral system

The electoral law is established by the Regional Law n. 7/2015. The regional council is made up of 50 councilors, plus the president; The first 23 seats are divided at the district level and the remaining 27 at the level of the single regional constituency. The law provides for a single round, with list voting, the possibility of expressing two preferences of different gender within the chosen list, and voting for the candidate for president, on a single ballot. It is possible to vote for a slate and a candidate for the chair that are not connected to each other ("split vote").

The candidate who obtains the majority (even only relative) of the votes is elected President of the Region. The lists linked to the elected president are eventually assigned a majority bonus in the following measure: at least 29 seats if the elected president has obtained a percentage of preferences higher than 40%; at least 28 seats if the elected president has obtained a percentage of preferences between 35% and 40%, while if it falls below 35%, at least 27 councilors would be assigned. The law provides for a threshold of 8% for coalitions and lists that run on their own and 4% for lists that present themselves in a coalition.

Background

On January 12, 2020, the Democratic Party (PD) held its primaries in which Governor Michele Emiliano was the winner.^[3]

Centre-left coalition Apulian governor primaries
Candidate		Votes	%
	Michele Emiliano	56,773	70.42
	Fabiano Amati	11,559	14.34
	Elena Gentile	9,753	12.10
	Leonardo Palmisano	2,532	3.14
Total		80,617	100.0

Following the primaries' victory of Emiliano, considered by Italia Viva (IV) too close to the political positions of the Five Star Movement (M5S), Matteo Renzi announced that his party would run separately from the center-left coalition.^[4] Other centrist parties like More Europe and Action welcomed Renzi's call.^[5] Action had supported the candidacy of Fabiano Amati in the PD's primaries.^[6]

After the pre-electoral agreements between the three parties of the center-right coalition, Brothers of Italy announced that the candidate in the region would be Raffaele Fitto, MEP and former governor of Apulia.^[7] However, the decision was opposed by the Salento section of the League, which instead proposed Nuccio Altieri. The final choice would be determined by the outcome of the regional elections in Emilia-Romagna and Calabria which could upset the balance between the center-right forces and therefore lead to a modification of pre-election agreements.^[8]

The M5S held the primaries on its electoral platform Rousseau. The candidates were Cristian Casili, Mario Conca, Antonella Laricchia, and Antonio Trevisi.^[9]

Parties and candidates

Political party or alliance		Constituent lists		Previous result		Candidate
				Votes (%)	Seats
	Centre-left coalition		Democratic Party (PD)	19.8	13	Michele Emiliano
			Emiliano Mayor of Apulia	9.7	6
			Populars with Emiliano (incl. CD, Popular Apulia and UDC dissidents)	6.2	3
			Pensioners and Disabled	0.4	–
			Civic Sense (incl. Art.1 and PRI)	—	—
			With Emiliano	—	—
			Solidary and Green Apulia (incl. SI, EV, PSI, èViva)	—	—
			Italia in Comune (IiC)	—	—
			Italian Animalist Party (PAI)	—	—
			Party of the South (PdS)	—	—
			Independent South	—	—
			Christian Democracy (DC)	—	—
			Alternative Left (SA)	—	—
			Open Society Association – The Liberals	—	—
			Thought and Action Party (PPA)	—	—
	Centre-right coalition		Forza Italia (FI)	11.4	5	Raffaele Fitto
			Brothers of Italy (FdI)	2.5	–
			League (Lega)	2.4	–
			Union of the Centre – New PSI (incl. LAM)	—	—
			Apulia Tomorrow – Fitto for President	—	—
	M5S coalition		Five Star Movement (M5S)	17.2	7	Antonella Laricchia
			Future Apulia (PF)	—	—
	Italia Viva coalition[10]		Italia Viva (IV)	—	—	Ivan Scalfarotto
			Scalfarotto for President – More Europe (incl. A)	—	—
			Green Future (incl. Volt, PLI and ALI)	—	—
	Work Environment Constitution (PRC – PCI – RS)			1.6[a]	–	Nicola Cesaria
	Apulian Citizens			—	—	Mario Conca
	Tricolour Flame (FT)			—	—	Pierfranco Bruni
	Reconquer Italy (RI)			—	—	Andrea D'Agosto

1. 0.9 % of the vote to The Other Apulia (PRC) + 0.7 % of the vote to PCI.

Opinion polls

Candidates

Date	Polling firm/ Client	Sample size	Emiliano	Fitto	Laricchia	Scalfarotto	Others	Undecided	Lead
21 Sep 2020	Opinio (exit poll)	–	39.0–43.0	39.0–43.0	11.0–15.0	1.0–3.0	–	–	Tie
4 Sep 2020	Lab2101	–	30.2	30.9	30.8	—	8.2	—	0.1
29 Aug–1 Sep 2020	BiDiMedia	1,325	40.2	38.9	14.3	3.9	2.7	13.3	1.3
28 Aug–1 Sep 2020	Scenari Politici–Winpoll	1,000	38.2	39.6	15.9	4.7	1.6	—	1.4
28–31 Aug 2020	Ipsos	900	39.4	41.0	15.6	1.6	2.4	—	1.6
28–31 Aug 2020	Quorum–YouTrend	800	39.4	40.2	15.3	3.9	1.2	—	0.8
28 Aug 2020	Tecnè	2,000	36–40	39–43	14–18	2–6	1–3	—	-1–7
27–29 Aug 2020	EMG	1,200	38.5	43.5	12.5	3.0	2.5	—	5.0
24 Aug–2 Sep 2020	Noto	—	36–40	39–43	12–16	—	5–9	—	-1–7
10 Aug 2020	EMG Archived 2020-09-27 at the Wayback Machine	–	37.5	43.5	12.0	5.0	2.0	—	6.0
8 Aug 2020	Gpf[a]	1,501	42.3	37.9	16.1	2.1	0.3	—	4.4
5–6 Aug 2020	Tecnè[a]	1,000	37.0	42.0	15.0	4.5	1.5	14.9	5.0
3–6 Aug 2020	BiDiMedia[a]	1,353	38.8	38.1	16.7	4.2	2.2	15.5	0.7
9–14 July 2020	Lab21 Archived 2020-07-18 at the Wayback Machine	–	34.5	30.2	31.1	3.1	1.1	—	3.4
5–7 July 2020	Troisi Research	1000	41.1	37.6	16.7	4.2	0.4	—	3.5
3 July 2020	Euromedia Research	–	39.8	37.8	17.1	3.6	1.7	—	2.0
26 Jun 2020	Noto	–	38.0	45.0	11.0	4.0	2.0	—	7.0
21 Jun 2020	Lab21[a]	–	32.0–36.0	32.0–36.0	22.0–26.0	4.0–6.0	2.0–4.0	—	Tie
4 Jun 2020	Noto[a]	–	37.5	45.0	—	—	—	—	7.5
4 Jun 2020	EMG[a]	–	36.5	43.5	—	—	—	—	7.0
19 Feb 2020	Noto	–	32.0	46.0	—	—	—	—	14.0
4–10 Feb 2020	MG Research	600	35.0–39.0	27.5–31.5	27.5–31.5	1.0–3.0[b]	1.0–3.0	—	4.5–11.5

Parties

Date	Polling firm	Sample size	Centre-left			M5S	Centre-right				Centre	Others	Undecided	Lead
			PD	PSV	Other		FI	Lega	FdI	Other
4 Sep 2020	Bidimedia	1325	15.3	3.8	19.8	14.2	8.5	11.1	13.7	6.2	3.9	2.9	13.9	1.1
28 Aug–1 Sep 2020	Scenari Politici–Winpoll	1,000	16.7	—	18.6	17.7	7.1	15.1	14.7	4.0	4.3	1.8	—	1.0
28–31 Aug 2020	Ipsos	900	18.0	—	20.4	17.0	7.5	17.5	12.9	4.5	—	2.2	—	0.5
27–29 Aug 2020	EMG	1,200	18.0	2.0	16.0	14.5	8.0	14.0	13.0	9.0	3.0	2.5	24.3	3.5
10 Aug 2020	EMG Archived 2020-09-27 at the Wayback Machine	1,800	21.5	—	13.0	13.5	10.0	15.0	14.0	6.0	4.0	2.0	—	6.5
3–6 August 2020	BiDiMedia[a]	1,353	15.0	4.0	18.7	16.4	8.4	10.5	14.1	6.1	4.1	2.7	18.5	1.4
9–14 July 2020	Lab21 Archived 2020-07-18 at the Wayback Machine	–	21.3	3.2	10.2	22.7	7.6	17.4	9.3	2.3	4.1	0.6	—	1.4
3 July 2020	Euromedia Research	–	20.1	2.1	16.4	19.2	8.3	18.1	8.5	2.9	3.7	0.7	39.9	2.6
29–May–1 Jun 2020	SWG[a]	–	39.0			—	43.0				—	—	—	4.0
26-28 Feb 2020	Winpoll[a]	–	23.0	2.6	6.6	9.6	7.9	20.4	20.2	0.2	8.3	1.2	20	2.6
19 Feb 2020	Noto	–	20.0	—	—	15.0	—	20.0	12.0	—	6.0–6.5	—	—	Tie
4–10 Feb 2020	MG Research	600	19.0–23.0	6.0–10.0	2.0–6.0	25.0–29.0	5.0–9.0	16.0–20.0	6.0–10.0	—	2.0–6.0	1.0–5.0	—	2.0–10.0

1. This poll was commissioned by a political party.
2. Ivan Scalfarotto wasn't the official candidate at the time the opinion poll was made

Results

20–21 September 2020 Apulian regional election results

Candidates		Votes	%	Seats	Parties		Votes	%	Seats
	Michele Emiliano	871,028	46.78	1		Democratic Party	289,188	17.25	16
						With Emiliano	110,559	6.59	6
						Populars with Emiliano	99,621	5.94	5
						Civic Sense – A New Olive Tree for Apulia	69,780	4.16	–
						Italia in Comune	64,886	3.87	–
						Solidary and Green Apulia	63,725	3.80	–
						Emiliano Mayor of Apulia	43,404	2.59	–
						Animalist Party	5,573	0.33	–
						Alternative Left	4,192	0.25	–
						Pensioners and Disabled	3,119	0.19	–
						Party of the South	1,410	0.08	–
						Thought and Action Party	1,243	0.07	–
						Independent South	1,179	0.07	–
						Christian Democracy	1,047	0.06	–
						Open Society Association – The Liberals	806	0.05	–
					Total		759,732	45.32	27
	Raffaele Fitto	724,928	38.93	1		Brothers of Italy	211,693	12.63	6
						League	160,507	9.57	4
						Forza Italia	149,399	8.91	4
						Apulia Tomorrow	141,201	8.42	3
						Union of the Centre – New PSI	31,736	1.89	–
					Total		694,536	41.43	17
	Antonella Laricchia	207,038	11.12	–		Five Star Movement	165,243	9.86	5
						Future Apulia	9,897	0.59	–
					Total		175,140	10.45	5
	Ivan Scalfarotto	29,808	1.60	–		Italia Viva	18,025	1.08	–
						Scalfarotto for President	5,062	0.30	–
						Green Future	1,888	0.11	–
					Total		24,975	1.49	–
	Mario Conca	16,531	0.89	–		Apulian Citizens	12,162	0.73	–
	Nicola Cesaria	7,222	0.39	–		Work Environment Constitution	5,880	0.35	–
	Pierfranco Bruni	3,115	0.17	–		Tricolour Flame	2,362	0.14	–
	Andrea D'Agosto	2,353	0.13	–		Reconquer Italy	1,712	0.10	–
Blank and invalid votes		149,658	7.44
Total candidates		1,862,023	100.00	2	Total parties		1,676,499	100.00	49
Registered voters/turnout		3,565,013	56.43
Source: Ministry of the Interior – Results Archived 2020-09-23 at the Wayback Machine

Popular vote PD   17.25% FdI   12.63% M5S   9.86% Lega   9.57% FI   8.91% LPD   8.42% CE   6.59% Pop.   5.94% SC   4.16% IiC   3.87% PSV   3.80% ESP   2.59% UDC–NPSI   1.89% IV   1.08% Others   3.44%

President Emiliano   46.78% Fitto   38.93% Laricchia   11.12% Scalfarotto   1.60% Others   1.57%

Seats summary Centre-left   54.90% Centre-right   35.29% M5S   6.81%

Turnout

Region	Time
	20 Sep			21 Sep
	12:00	19:00	23:00	15:00
Apulia	12.04%	27.60%	39.89%	56.43%
Province	Time
	20 Sep			21 Sep
	12:00	19:00	23:00	15:00
Bari	12.95%	29.20%	40.92%	56.88%
Barletta-Andria-Trani	12.76%	29.72%	42.61%	59.95%
Brindisi	11.53%	26.71%	38.70%	54.79%
Foggia	10.66%	25.07%	36.54%	52.76%
Lecce	12.18%	27.84%	41.05%	58.12%
Taranto	11.23%	25.67%	38.53%	55.75%
Source: Ministry of the Interior – Turnout Archived 2020-10-06 at the Wayback Machine

See also

• 2020 Italian regional elections