Politics of Veneto

The Politics of Veneto takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democracy, whereby the President of Regional Government is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the Regional Government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Regional Council. The constitution was promulgated on 22 May 1971. [ [http://www.regione.veneto.it/La+Regione/Statuto+Regionale.htm Statuto Regionale - Sito Ufficiale della Regione Veneto ] ]

Once a stronghold of the Christian Democracy, Veneto is now a stronghold of the centre-right House of Freedoms coalition, which has governed the region since 1995, under President Giancarlo Galan (Forza Italia).

Veneto is also home for Venetism, a political movement that appeared during the 1970s and 1980s, demanding autonomy for the region (which is felt by Venetists to be a nation different from Italy) and promoting Venetian culture, language and history. This is the political background in which Liga Veneta was launched in 1980. Then, other Venetist parties, such as Liga Veneta Repubblica and North-East Project, emerged, but they never touched the popularity of Liga Veneta, which was a founding member of Lega Nord in 1991.

Liga Veneta scores always between 10 and 30%. In the 2005 regional election it received 14.7% of the votes and the three major Venetist parties combined gained 21.5%. However, since 1999 the strongest party in the region is Forza Italia, led by President Galan, a keen autonomist who forged a strong axis with Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.

Executive

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 are currently 12, including a Vice President. [ [http://www.regione.veneto.it/La+Regione/Giunta/Home+Giunta Home Giunta - Sito Ufficiale della Regione Veneto ] ]

Current composition

The current regional government is in charge since 19 May, 2005. [ [http://www.regione.veneto.it/La+Regione/Giunta/Giunta1970/Ottava_legislatura.htm Ottava legislatura 2005 - Sito Ufficiale della Regione Veneto ] ]

List of historical Governments

Legislative branch

The Regional Council of Veneto ("Consiglio Regionale del Veneto") is composed of 60 members, of which 47 are elected in provincial constituencies with proportional representation, 12 from the so-called "regional list" of the elected President and the last one is for the candidate for President who comes secondhttp://www.consiglio.regione.lombardia.it/c/portal/layout?p_l_id=PRI.1046.1&p_p_id=20&p_p_action=1&p_p_state=exclusive&p_p_col_id=null&p_p_col_pos=2&p_p_col_count=3&_20_struts_action=%2Fdocument_library%2Fget_file&_20_folderId=69&_20_name=l+cost+199_PDF.pdf] , who usually becomes the leader of the opposition in the Council. If a coalition wins more than 55% of the vote, only 6 candidates from the "regional list" will be elected and the number of those elected in provincial constituencies will be 53. [It is what happened in the 2000 regional election. See http://elezionistorico.interno.it/listeRegionaliCompleta.php?tp=R&dt=16/04/2000&cta=I&tpEnte=R&tpSeg=R&numEnte=5&sut1=5&sut2=0&sut3=0&descEnte=%20Regione:%20VENETO&descArea=&codTipoSegLeader=.]

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 vel simul cadent" prevision (introduced in 1999), also the Council will be dissolved and there will be a fresh election.

Current composition

Local government

Veneto is divided into seven Provinces.

Only two are traditionally governed by the centre-left (Rovigo and Venice), while Belluno is a swing province. Treviso, Vicenza and Verona are strongholds of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord, while in Padua, the most populated one and home-province of Giancarlo Galan, the People of Freedom is the dominant political force. Padua is also the province in Northern and Central Italy where the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats scores better. The Democratic Party is the largest party only in the Provinces of Venice and Rovigo.

This is a list of the provincial governments and of the biggest cities (with a population of more than 35,000 inhabitants):
*Province of Belluno – President: Sergio Reolon (PD)
**Belluno – Mayor: Antonio Prade (PdL)
*Province of Padua – President: Vittorio Casarin (PdL)
**Padua – Mayor: Flavio Zanonato (PD)
*Province of Rovigo – President: Federico Saccardin (PD)
**Rovigo – Mayor: Fausto Marchiori (PD)
*Province of Treviso – President: Leonardo Muraro (LV)
**Treviso – Mayor: Gian Paolo Gobbo (LV)
**Conegliano – Mayor: Alberto Maniero (PdL)
*Province of Venice – President: Davide Zoggia (PD)
**Venice – Mayor: Massimo Cacciari (PD)
**Chioggia – Mayor: Romano Tiozzo Pagio (PdL)
**San Donà di Piave – Mayor: Francesca Zaccariotto (LV)
**Mira – Mayor: Michele Carpinetti (PD)
*Province of Verona – President: Elio Mosele (PdL)
**Verona – Mayor: Flavio Tosi (LV)
*Province of Vicenza – President: Attilio Schneck (LV)
**Vicenza – Mayor: Achille Variati (PD)
**Bassano del Grappa – Mayor: Giampaolo Bizzotto (PdL)
**Schio – Mayor: Luigi Dalla Via (PD)

Political parties and elections

Last regional election

The last regional election took place on 3-4 April 2005. Giancarlo Galan (Forza Italia, House of Freedoms) was re-elected for the third time President of the Region, but the support for him was diminished by the presence of a third candidate, Giorgio Panto, who picked votes both from the centre-right camp and from the Ventist one, and of a fourth candidate of the far-right.

Forza Italia suffered a decline in term of votes and regional deputies, although remaining the largest party in the Council and also in the Region as a whole (the Olive Tree was only an electoral alliance at the time and the three parties which were part of it formed separate groups in the Council), while Venetist parties had a very good result: the combined score of Liga Veneta (14.7%), North-East Project (5.4%) and Liga Fronte Veneto (1.2%) was 21.3%, up from the 15.6% of 2000 (Liga Veneta 12.0%, Veneti d'Europa 2.4% and Fronte Marco Polo 1.2%. [ [http://elezionistorico.interno.it/listeRegionaliCompleta.php?tp=R&dt=03/04/2005&cta=I&tpEnte=R&tpSeg=R&numEnte=5&sut1=5&sut2=0&sut3=0&descEnte=%20Regione:%20VENETO&descArea=&codTipoSegLeader= ::: Ministero dell'Interno ::: Archivio Storico delle Elezioni - Regionali del 3 Aprile 2005 ] ]

Last general election in Veneto

Chamber of Deputies

enate

References

ources

* [http://www.regione.veneto.it/La+Regione/Giunta/Giunta1970/ Veneto Region – Legislatures]
* [http://www.consiglioveneto.it/crvportal/pageContainer.jsp?n=74&p=74&c=10&e=80&t=0& Regional Council of Veneto – Elections]
* [http://www.cattaneo.org/index.asp?l1=archivi&l2=adele Cattaneo Institute – Archive of Election Data]
* [http://elezionistorico.interno.it/ Ministry of the Interior – Historical Archive of Elections]

External links

* [http://www.regione.veneto.it Veneto Region]
* [http://www.consiglioveneto.it Regional Council of Veneto]
* [http://www.regione.veneto.it/Organizzazione+Regionale Constitution of Veneto]