The document summarizes the impact of Covid-19 on upcoming 2020 administrative elections in Italy. Due to the pandemic, elections scheduled for spring 2020 in several regions and over 1,000 municipalities were postponed to September by decree. Regional candidates across major parties are outlined for Veneto, Liguria, Tuscany, Marche, Campania, Puglia, and Valle d'Aosta. Measures will be taken to allow for safe voting over two days in September, with potential runoffs in October, amid debate over balancing public health and the tourism season.

1. The 2020
Administrative
Elections
The impact of Covid-19 on
the next round ofvoting
July 2020

2. The spring elections
In spring 2020 (between April and June) elections were supposed to have been held in 6 out of 15 of Italy’s
Regions under Ordinary Statute: Veneto, Liguria, Tuscany, Marche, Campania and Puglia. And in Valle
d’Aosta as well, on the early dissolution of the Regional Council.
Elections had been scheduled in more than one thousand other Municipalities at this same time, including
14 Provincial Capitals and 4 Regional Capitals. There was great anticipation around a few of them:
Venice, Reggio Calabria, Trento, Bolzano and Arezzo.

3. After the first measures to fight Covid and the beginning of
lockdown, the idea of postponing the elections begins to
take shape, seeing as any kind of electoral campaigning
is impossible, especially considering the various political
meetings and initiatives this would involve, in order to
avoid large gatherings of people in one single place.
And then, there was Covid
People began talking about the possibility of
having an ‘election day’ for regional and municipal
elections, as well as for the referendum to reduce
the number of Italian MPs.

4. The Government is prudent
and postpones the elections
On 20 April the Council of Ministers approves Decree-Law no.
26/2020 on postponing elections – Urgent measures regarding 2020
elections – which, in light of the Covid-19 emergency, postpones
elections for city and district councils to a Sunday between 15
September and 25 December.
Regional Presidents with terms elapsing on 2 August 2020
will remain in office for 5 years and 3 months, and elections
will be held either in the subsequent 60 days or on the Sunday
falling during the six days following that.
The Decree-Law also postpones the supplementary elections for
the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Voting must be held
within 240 days of declaring the vacant seat, as opposed to the 90
days set out in the current law. According to the Decree-Law,
elections can be postponed for no more than three months, even
if they have already been announced, in light of ‘specific,
unexpected epidemiological circumstances caused by COVID-19’.

5. C
The Regions respond
Four Regional Presidents, who are nearing the end of their term,
write to the Government to request a summer vote.
We reiterate that the electors must be guaranteed their
inalienable right to vote in as little time as possible and
compatible with the progress of the epidemic.
Therefore, considering, according to the current
predictions, that the summer is the safest season from
an epidemiological standpoint, we reiterate that the
voting window must be extended, as we have
requested, to the month of July
Giovanni Toti (Liguria), Luca Zaia (Veneto),
Vincenzo De Luca (Campania), Michele Emiliano (Puglia)
Federico D’Incà, Minister of Parliamentary Relations, disagrees
and replies, ‘We foresee holding an election day between
September and October, to save time and resources’.
“

6. The Municipalities
1,133 Municipalities will be voting in 2020, and 146 of them have populations of over 15,000 (and 18 are Municipal Capitals). So
they will have two rounds of voting.
However, the Decree-Law’s measures do not apply in Special Statute Regions. Rather, each of these Regions has set out ad hoc
electoral laws on how and when administrative elections for their local governments will be held.
SicilY
between 11 October
and 6 December
FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA
a Sunday between 4
October and 13 December VALLE D’AOSTA
a Sunday between
15 September and
5 December
SARDINIA
the date for the administrative
elections has yet to be decided

7. C
THE PRECEDENT
This is not the first time administrative elections in Italy have
been postponed due to emergency. This also happened after
the 2009 earthquake in Aquila.
That year, administrative elections had been slated for 6 and 7
June. However, because electors from the Aquila province
would also be voting to elect the Provincial President and
Council, as well as several City Councils, the Government
issued Decree-Law 39/2009 – Urgent measures to help the
populations affected by earthquake in the Abruzzo Region in
April 2009 – postponing administrative elections in the Aquila
Province to sometime between 1 November and 15 December.
According to Decree of the President of the Republic
570/1960, in individual cases, the Prefect may even postpone
the election date, however, not for more than 60 days.

8. When and how will people go
to the polls again
The elections will be held on 20 and 21 September 2020,
as established by the Minister of Interior. In the event of a
runoff election, in Municipalities with a population of over
15,000, elections will be held on 4 and 5 October.
So there will be two days of voting, not one, to try and
keep gatherings to a minimum. So people will be voting in:
• regional elections in Tuscany, Veneto, Liguria, Marche,
Campania, Puglia and Valle d’Aosta;
• administrative and district elections in over 1,000 Municipalities
and 3 Regional Capitals (Aosta, Trento and Venice);
• a constitutional referendum on cutting the number of MPs, as
established by the Decree of the President of the Republic of 17
July 2020;
• supplementary elections for vacant Senate seats: constituency
3 in Sardinia (Sassari) and constituency 9 in Veneto (Villafranca
di Verona).

9. Other measures
The Decree-Law reduced the number of signatures
required to present lists and candidates for the 2020
regional and municipal elections due to the short notice of
the election date, the upcoming summer season, the ban
on gatherings and so on.
Regarding polling stations, many have proposed voting
in places other than schools, seeing as the new school
year is set to begin on 14 September and no one really
wants to interrupt classes after just one week.

10. Turism IS MORE important
During the political and parliamentary debate on
converting the Decree-Law into Law, a front formed
that was against holding elections in September so
as not to risk ruining the summer tourist season –
already compromised by Covid.
The world of tourism would be devastated by an
early-September vote […] we proposed that the voting
window start from 27 September, thereby allowing
Italians to vote in full awareness and freedom
in regional and administrative elections while also
safeguarding an industry as vital to our country as
tourism is
“ Massimo Iacobucci
regional coordinator for Liguria from
the right-wing party Fratelli d’Italia (FdI)

11. candidates in Veneto
Regional elections
In Veneto, outgoing President Luca Zaia (Lega, right-
wing) will be running for his third consecutive term.
The coronavirus emergency boosted Zaia’s already
considerable visibility, and according to the polls he
is looking like Veneto’s favourite candidate.
On the other hand, even in 2010 Zaia got 60% of
votes and was re-elected five years later with over
50% of votes.
The Democratic Party (PD, left-wing) has lined up behind
Arturo Lorenzoni, Vice Mayor of Padova since 2017. He is
not a member of the PD but will be going to the elections
with the civic list “Il Veneto che vogliamo” (The Veneto We
Want). An engineering professor and researcher in the
environmental and energy sector, he is very active on
environment issues.
The centre-left is divided, with Italia Viva running with
Daniela Sbrollini, a member of the Senate and the first
female candidate for the President of Veneto.
The 5-Star Movement has chosen as its candidate former
Senator Enrico Cappelletti, through a kind of on line
primary elections called regionarie.

12. Regional elections:
candidates in Liguria
Outgoing President Enrico Rossi (PD, left-wing) will not be
running for a third term. Eugenio Giani, former President of
the Regional Council, will be running in his place.
The centre-right candidate will be Susanna Ceccardi,
currently a Member of the European Parliament and former
Mayor of Cascina.
And the 5-Star Movement? Here too it will be going solo to
the polls with Regional Councillor Irene Galletti, an expert in
human rights and international cooperation.
Outgoing President Giovanni Toti, leader of the centre-
right party he founded Cambiamo! (Let’s Change!), will be
running for a second term.
PD and 5SM agree on a common candidate, Ferruccio
Sansa, a journalist at “Il Fatto Quotidiano”.
Italia Viva picked an own candidate, Aristide Massardo,
engineer and Professor at University of Genoa, together
with Più Europa and other minor parties.
candidates in Tuscany

13. candidates in Campania
Regional elections
Outgoing President Vincenzo De Luca (PD, left-wing)
will be running for a second term.
During the months of lockdown, he became
internationally known for his sheriff-like attitude
towards citizens who were not respecting the measures
to fight Covid.
However, will this notoriety be enough to defeat centre-right
candidate Stefano Caldoro (FI), who already beat De Luca
in the 2010 regional elections?
The 5-Star Movement has lined up behind Valeria
Ciarabino, 5-Star movement group leader in the Regional
Council of Campania. After announcing the results of the
local regionarie, Ciarabino was endorsed by the Minister of
the Environment, Sergio Costa, who at first seemed as if he
wanted to run himself:
With someone as honest, charismatic and
competent as her, Campania, my homeland, can
and must finally bring about change and restore
the authoritativeness it deserves
“

14. Regional elections
CANDIDATes in MARCHE
Outgoing President Michele Emiliano (PD, leftwing) will be
running for a second term. Italia Viva does not share this
decision, and this time has withdrawn from the coalition with
the PD. It has chosen Ivan Scalfarotto, Undersecretary of
Foreign Affairs, as its candidate.
The centre-right candidate is Raffaele Fitto, former President of
the Puglia Region from 2000 to 2005, former member of Forza Italia
(centre-right) and currently an activist with Fratelli d’Italia (right).
The 5-Star Movement has lined up behind Antonella Laricchia,
Regional Councillor and spokeswoman for the Movement in Puglia.
Outgoing President Luca Ceriscioli (PD, leftwing)
will not be running for a second term with his party.
Maurizio Mangialardi, Mayor of Senigallia, who would be
supported by Italia Viva as well.
The centre-right will be running with Francesco
Acquaroli (FdI), former Mayor of Potenza Picena
and a Member of the Chamber of Deputies.
Acquaroli recently found himself at the centre of a debate
on his presumed Fascist sympathies.
Gian Mario Mercorelli, City Councilor of Tolentino (MC),
is the 5-Star Moviment candidate.
CANDIDATES IN PUGLIA

15. If a list gets 21 or more seats, it wins in the first
round. Otherwise, if a coalition of several lists gets
more than 50% of votes, the electoral system
assigns the 21 seats equally.
After the resignation of former President of the Regional
Executive Committee, Antonio Fasson, in December 2019,
the citizens of Valle d’Aosta were called to elect a new
Regional Council. Actually, according to the regional
electoral law, it isn’t the President that is directly elected,
but rather the 35 Council Members, who are distributed
proportionally among the lists that run.
Then the new Regional Council elects
the President and his or her Executive
Regional elections IN VALLE D’AOSTA

16. According to the current picture of the regional candidates and coalitions (not considering
either the Municipalities or the Valle d’Aosta), it looks like the situation is still evolving.
The leftwing parties PD and Italia Viva are running together almost everywhere (except
in Puglia and in Liguria), which means alliances between the PD and the 5-Star Movement
may be less likely at the regional level (at least so far Italia Viva has not seemed very open
to this possibility).
At both the local and regional level, the 5-Star Movement is running almost alone with
its own candidates, also because it has “democratically” chosen its them using the Rosseau
platform (regionarie), and not by coming to an agreement along with its other possible allies.
This scenario could change in the coming weeks.
Have all the candidates
been selected and alliances formed?

17. Telos Analisi & Strategie
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