Politics of Apulia

The politics of Apulia, Italy take place in the 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 of Apulia, 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 Apulia were part of the liberal establishment (see Historical Right, Historical Left and Liberals), which governed Italy for decades. At the 1924 general election, which opened the way to the Fascist authoritarian rule, Apulia was one of the regions where the National Fascist Party (PNF) obtained more than 50% of the vote.^[1]

After World War II, Apulia became a stronghold of the Christian Democracy (DC), which was especially strong in rural areas. The region is now considered a stronghold of the "centre-left coalition" led by the Democratic Party (PD), having been governed by such alliance since 2005.

Between 2005 and 2015 the region was headed by Nichi Vendola, the first openly LGBT heads of a regional government in Italy.

Legislative branch

Main article: Regional Council of Apulia

The Regional Council of Apulia (Consiglio Regionale della Puglia) is composed of 51 members, 50 councillors and the President. 23 councillors are elected in provincial constituencies by proportional representation using the largest remainder method with a Droop quota and open lists, while 27 councillors (elected in a general ticket) come from a "regional list", including the President-elect. One seat is reserved for the candidate who comes second.

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.^[2]

2020–2025 composition

Palazzo della Regione in Bari is the seat of the Regional Council.

Party		Seats	Status
	Democratic Party	15 / 51	In government
	Brothers of Italy	6 / 51	In opposition
	With Emiliano	5 / 51	In government
	Five Star Movement	5 / 51	In government
	Forza Italia	4 / 51	In opposition
	League	4 / 51	In opposition
	For Apulia	3 / 51	In government
	Action	3 / 51	In opposition
	Populars with Emiliano	2 / 51	In government
	Apulia Tomorrow	2 / 51	In opposition
	Mixed group[3]	2 / 51	—

Executive branch

Main article: President of Apulia

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 currently composed by 10 members: the President and 9 regional ministers or assessors (Assessori), including a Vice President (Vice Presidente).^[4]

Current composition

The current Regional Government was sworn in on 24 November 2020.

Party			Members
	Democratic Party	PD	President and 3 ministers
	With Emiliano	CE	2 ministers
	Populars with Emiliano	PcE	1 minister
	Italian Left	SI	1 minister
	Five Star Movement	M5S	1 minister
	Independent	Ind	1 minister

Minister	Party		Delegate for
Raffaele Piemontese (vice president)		PD	Finance and budget, infrastructures
Anna Maurodinoia		PD	Transports and sustainable mobility
Donato Pentassuglia		PD	Agriculture, food processing, hunt and fishing, woods
Alessandro Delli Noci		CE	Economic development
Gianfranco Lopane		CE	Tourism
Rocco Palese		Ind	Healthcare
Anna Grazia Maraschino		SI	Environment, circular economy, housing
Sebastiano Leo		PcE	Education and labour, universities
Rosa Barone		M5S	Welfare and social policies

List of presidents

Main article: List of presidents of Apulia

The current President of Apulia is Michele Emiliano, who is serving his second term after winning the 2020 regional election.

Presidents elected by the Regional Council (1970–1995)

N.	Name	Term of office		Political party	Legislature
1	Gennaro Trisorio Liuzzi	8 June 1970	16 June 1975	DC	I (1970)
2	Nicola Rotolo	16 June 1975	23 December 1978	DC	II (1975)
3	Nicola Quarta	23 December 1978	9 June 1980	DC
		9 June 1980	4 July 1983		III (1980)
4	Angelo Monfredi	4 July 1983	23 September 1983	DC
(1)	Gennaro Trisorio Liuzzi	23 September 1983	13 May 1985	DC
5	Salvatore Fitto	13 May 1985	29 August 1988[5]	DC	IV (1985)
6	Franco Borgia	29 August 1988	23 November 1988	PSI
7	Giuseppe Colasanto	23 November 1988	6 May 1990	DC
8	Michele Bellomo	6 May 1990	23 October 1992	DC	V (1990)
9	Cosimo Convertino	23 October 1992	4 December 1992	PSI
10	Giovanni Copertino	4 December 1992	3 September 1993	DC
11	Vito Savino	3 September 1993	1 March 1994	DC
12	Giuseppe Martellotta	1 March 1994	27 June 1995	PPI

Directly-elected presidents (since 1995)

N.	Portrait	President	Term of office		Tenure (Years and days)	Party		Composition	Legislature
13		Salvatore Distaso (1937–2008)	27 June 1995	19 May 2000	4 years, 327 days		FI	FI–AN–CDC	VI (1995)
14		Raffaele Fitto (b. 1969)	19 May 2000	27 April 2005	4 years, 343 days		FI	FI–AN–CDC–CDU	VII (2000)
15		Nichi Vendola (b. 1958)	27 April 2005	26 April 2010	10 years, 60 days		PRC / SEL	DS–DL–PRC–SDI– UDEUR–PdCI−IdV–FdV	VIII (2005)
			26 April 2010	26 June 2015				PD–SEL–IdV	IX (2010)
16		Michele Emiliano (b. 1959)	26 June 2015	24 November 2020	10 years, 34 days		PD	PD–SEL–IdV–SC–UdC	X (2015)
			24 November 2020	Incumbent				PD–CE–PcE–M5S[6]	XI (2020)

Local government

Provinces and Metropolitan City

Provinces of Apulia

Apulia is divided into five provinces and one metropolitan city.

After the 2014 reform of local authorities the Province of Bari was replaced by the new Metropolitan City of Bari. Since 2014 the president of the province is no more elected directly by citizens, but is chosen by mayors and councilors of the municipalities of the province.

Province / Metropolitan City	Inhabitants	President		Party	Election
Metropolitan City of Bari	1,261,954		Antonio Decaro (metropolitan mayor)	Democratic Party	2019
Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani	384,293		Bernardo Lodispoto	Independent (Democratic Party)	2023
Province of Brindisi	401,652		Toni Matarelli	Independent (Democratic Party)	2022
Province of Foggia	627,102		Giuseppe Nobiletti	Independent (Democratic Party)	2023
Province of Lecce	802,807		Stefano Minerva	Democratic Party	2022
Province of Taranto	581,092		Rinaldo Melucci	Democratic Party	2022

Municipalities

Apulia is also divided into 258 comuni (municipalities), which have even more history, having been established in the Middle Ages when they were the main places of government. There are eight provincial capital cities in Apulia, as the Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani is the only province in Italy with three capital cities.

There are 258 communes in Apulia (as of January 2019):

• 41 in the Metropolitan City of Bari
• 10 in the Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani
• 20 in the Province of Brindisi
• 61 in the Province of Foggia
• 97 in the Province of Lecce
• 29 in the Province of Taranto

Provincial capitals

Municipality	Inhabitants	Mayor		Party	Election
Andria	100,357		Giovanna Bruno	Democratic Party	2020
Bari	311,997		Antonio Decaro	Democratic Party	2019
Barletta	94,664		Cosimo Cannito	Independent	2022
Brindisi	88,482		Giuseppe Marchionna	Independent	2023
Foggia	152,700		Maria Aida Episcopo	Independent	2023
Lecce	89,902		Carlo Salvemini	Independent	2019
Taranto	198,083		Rinaldo Melucci	Democratic Party	2022
Trani	55,808		Amedeo Bottaro	Democratic Party	2020

Other municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants

Municipality	Inhabitants	Mayor		Party	Election
Altamura	70,789		Vitantonio Petronella	Independent	2023
Molfetta	60,272		Tommaso Minervini	Democratic Party	2022
Cerignola	57,007		Francesco Bonito	Democratic Party	2021
Manfredonia	56,318		Giovanni Rotice	Forza Italia	2021
Bitonto	56,304		Francesco Paolo Ricci	Democratic Party	2022
San Severo	55,297		Francesco Miglio	Democratic Party	2019
Bisceglie	54,847		Angelantonio Angarano	Independent	2023

Parties and elections

Main articles: List of political parties in Apulia and Elections in Apulia

Latest regional election

Main article: 2020 Apulian regional election

In the latest regional election, which took place on 20–21 September 2020, Michele Emiliano of the Democratic Party was re-elected President with 46.8% of the vote.

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