Tuscan regional election, 2005

Tuscan regional election, 2005

April 3–4, 2005

All 65 seats to the Regional Council of Tuscany   Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Claudio Martini Alessandro Antichi Luca Ciabatti Party Democrats of the Left Forza Italia Communist Refoundation Party Last election 32 seats, 49.3% 16 seats, 40.0% 2 seats, 7.3% Seats won 39 21 5 Seat change 7 5 3 Popular vote 1,185,374 678,491 151,560 Percentage 57.4% 32.8% 7.3% Swing 8.1% 1.6% 0.4%

President of Tuscany before election Claudio Martini Democrats of the Left President of Tuscany Claudio Martini Democrats of the Left

The Tuscan regional election of 2005 took place on 3–4 April 2005.

Incumbent Claudio Martini (Democrats of the Left) defeated Alessandro Antichi (Forza Italia) by a landslide.

Electoral law

Tuscany uses for the first time its own legislation of 2004 to elect its Council. The councillors are elected in provincial constituencies by proportional representation using the largest remainder method with a Droop quota and close lists.

In this system parties are grouped in alliances, and the alliance which receives a plurality of votes elects all its candidates, its leader becoming the President of Tuscany.

The number of the councillors rose to 65 from 50.

Results

2005 election led to the return to the guide of the Region, for its second consecutive term, Claudio Martini, supported by the center-left coalition.

If the mechanisms of electoral law generated a Regional Council very similar to the incumbent one, popular vote marked a significant increase in the gap between the two sides, which was almost halved. The same plurality party, Democrats of the Left in coalition with other parties in The Olive Tree, increased of more than one hundred thousand preferences. The election was also the test for a list that led, within two years, to the national foundation of a new political entity, the Democratic Party.

Like 1995 election, Communist Refoundation Party run lonely with its candidate.

Candidates	Regional lists			Provincial lists					Total
	votes	%	seats	Parties	votes	%	swing	seats	party	group
Claudio Martini	1,185,374	57.37	1	The Olive Tree	880,876	48.77	new	33	34	39
				Party of Italian Communists	77,126	4.27	+1.2	3	3
				Federation of the Greens	50,235	2.78	+0.4	2	2
				Italy of Values	15,869	0.88	new	0	0
Alessandro Antichi	678,491	32.84	1	Forza Italia	310,427	17.19	-3.0	10	11	21
				National Alliance	196,478	10.88	-4.0	7	7
				Union of Christian and Centre Democrats	66,186	3.66	new	3	3
				Lega Nord Toscana	22,884	1.27	+0.7	0	0
Luca Ciabatti	151,560	7.33	1	Communist Refoundation Party	148,103	8.20	+1.5	4	5	5
Renzo Macelloni	30,062	1.45	-	NPSI–PRI–PLI	23,379	1.29	+0.7	0	0
Mario Gozzoli	20,845	1.01	-	Social Alternative	14,651	0.81	new	0	0
Total candidates	2,066,332	100.00	3	Total parties	1,806,214	100.00	=	62	65	65

Sources: Ministry of the Interior