2010 Lombard regional election

The 2010 Lombard regional election took place on 28–29 March 2010. The 9th term of the Regional Council was chosen.
Roberto Formigoni, who was the longest-serving President of Region in Italy along with Giancarlo Galan of Veneto, obtained a historic fourth consecutive term. His opponent was Filippo Penati, a Democrat, who was President of the Province of Milan from 2004 to 2009. The Lombard League, that is to say the regional section of Northern League in Lombardy, backed Formigoni in return of the support granted by The People of Freedom to Northern League candidates in Veneto and Piedmont.
Minor candidates who were running were Savino Pezzotta for the Union of the Centre, Vito Crimi for Beppe Grillo's movement, Vittorio Agnoletto for the Communist Refoundation Party and Gianmario Invernizzi for New Force. Marco Cappato for the Italian Radicals did not gain enough signatures to back his candidature.

Electoral system

Regional elections in Lombardy were ruled by the "Tatarella law", which provided for a mixed electoral system: four fifths of the regional councilors were elected in provincial constituencies by proportional representation, using the largest remainder method with a droop quota and open lists, while the residual votes and the unassigned seats were grouped into a "single regional constituency", where the whole ratios and the highest remainders were divided with the Hare method among the provincial party lists; one fifth of the council seats instead was reserved for regional lists and assigned with a majoritarian system: the leader of the regional list that scored the highest number of votes was elected to the presidency of the Region while the other candidates were elected regional councilors.
A threshold of 3% had been established for the provincial lists, which, however, could still have entered the regional council if the regional list to which they were connected had scored at least 5% of valid votes.
The panachage was also allowed: the voter can indicate a candidate for the presidency but prefer a provincial list connected to another candidate.

Council apportionment

According to the official 2001 Italian census, the 64 Council seats which must be covered by proportional representation are so distributed between Lombard provinces.

BG	BS	CO	CR	LC	LO	MN	MI	MB	PV	SO	VA	total
7	8	4	2	2	1	3	21	5	4	1	6	64

The allocation is not fixed. Remaining seats and votes after proportional distribution, are all grouped at regional level and divided by party lists. The consequent division of these seats at provincial level usually change the original apportionment. Only 43 seats were directly assigned at provincial level, and the final distribution between provinces changed in this way.

BG	BS	CO	CR	LC	LO	MN	MI	PV	SO	VA	total
+2	+2	=	=	+1	=	=	+2	-1	+1	=	+7

As it can be seen, the landslide victory of Formigoni's Alliance caused the distribution of seven more seats to the oppositions at provincial level. Bergamo and Brescia received two new seats, Lecco and Milan and Sondrio one each.

Controversies on Formigoni's candidature

Formigoni's candidature, which allowed him a 4th mandate, has been contested by academics and left-wing politicians, as in disregard of Law n. 165/2004, that put a limit of two subsequent mandates to directly-elected Region Presidents. Formigoni was indirectly elected in 1995, but then directly elected in 2000 and 2005. He defends himself stating that the law was not in action when he was first directly elected in 2000, so he should be allowed a 4th mandate. After re-election, his mandate may be overturned by judges later on.
Formigoni also sparked controversies when agreeing to put in his majority-premium list, granting her safe election, Nicole Minetti, former showgirl and actual dental hygienist of Silvio Berlusconi, who asked for a political seat for her.

Results

The election led to the return to the guide of the Region, for its fourth consecutive term, Communion and Liberation's Roberto Formigoni, supported by the centre-right coalition.
If the mechanisms of electoral law generated a Regional Council very similar to the incumbent one speaking about coalitions, the most relevant change was the five new seats conquered by the League, which obtained its best performance ever. More, the League was strangely penalized by the electoral law, having conquered fewer seats than as it would be with a proportional representation.
The People of Freedom was confirmed as the largest party in the region with 32% of the vote, despite a decline of three points, while Lega Nord took the 26% and Democratic Party the 23%.

Results by province

Province	Roberto Formigoni	Filippo Penati	Savino Pezzotta	Vito Crimi	Vittorio Agnoletto	Gianmario Invernizzi
Province
Milan	741,051	585,722	50,421	48,979	41,376	7,252
Brescia	362,187	178,958	37,565	19,215	12,106	4,310
Bergamo	340,527	145,273	36,720	14,777	10,096	2,672
Varese	259,496	125,111	20,159	12,748	8,926	2,421
Monza and Brianza	240,858	144,246	17,802	14,788	7,815	2,117
Como	183,765	79,757	12,657	6,490	5,599	2,104
Pavia	156,750	88,690	11,715	7,483	7,829	1,964
Mantua	100,135	77,311	10,574	6,698	5,638	663
Cremona	99,463	63,213	9,520	4,978	5,164	1,333
Lecco	100,897	57,861	8,293	4,163	3,808	795
Lodi	59,619	37,837	5,451	2,873	3,633	1,402
Sondrio	58,634	19,687	4,972	1,393	1,764	325