Regionals

Basilicata elections, the centre-right wins again with Bardi. Only three women in the Council

Turnout at 49.8% (-3.7% compared to 2019) - Among the lists, FdI is the first party, followed by Pd and Forza Italia. Decisive were the votes of the centrists aligned with the outgoing governor

by Redaction Rome

22 April 2024Aggiornato il 23 aprile 2024 alle ore 7,30

Basilicata al voto, sfida tra i tre candidati

3' min read

Key points

Final turnout at 49.8%
Lists: Fdi first party
Meloni: Basilicata confirms support for our policies

3' min read

Vito Bardi has been confirmed as president of the Basilicata region. With scrutiny closed, the gap with Piero Marrese, candidate of the centre-left, is at the end of more than 14 percentage points: the outgoing governor and candidate of a centre-right broadened to include centrist forces wins with 56.6%, while Marrese is at 42.1%. The third candidate Eustachio Follia (Volt) is stationary at 1.2% (less than 3 thousand votes).

"A clear victory for our coalition," commented the re-elected Lucanian president. 'The turnout certainly penalised the centre-left,' Bardi added, 'which is also partly the cause: the voters sanctioned the sad spectacle that the left has put on in recent months. They lost because they were talking about Bardi while we were talking about Basilicata'.

Final turnout at 49.8%

Turnout was low: half (49.8%) of those eligible to vote went to the polls (282,886 voters out of 567,939 voters). In 2019 (when only Sunday voting took place), it had been 53.52%. In the province of Potenza the turnout was 47.92% (52.40 in 2019), in the province of Matera 54.08 (56.03 in 2019). As regards the two capitals, in Potenza turnout was 63.28% (compared to 68.79 in 2019), in Matera 55.60 (compared to 59.89 in 2019).

Lists: Fdi first party, centrist forces decisive

Fratelli d'Italia is the first party in Basilicata with 17.4%. After FdI, there is the Democratic Party (13.9%), closely followed by Forza Italia (13%). In the centre-right, the Lega obtains only 7.8% of the votes and only just outstrips the two centrist forces that sided with the coalition and together had a decisive weight in Bardi's victory: Azione of Carlo Calenda (joined by the former centre-left governor Marcello Pittella ) comes to 7.5% and Orgoglio lucano (which has among its members exponents close to Matteo Renzi) to 7.7%. The sum of their votes corresponds to the margin that allowed Bardi to be re-elected. In the centre-left Basilicata Casa Comune reached 11.2%, while the Movimento 5 Stelle stopped at 7.6%. Volt, the European political movement that expressed the third candidate Eustachio Follia, does not go beyond 1.2%.

Marrese: a piece of the centre-left made Bardi win

The numbers of centrists aligned with Bardi make Marrese say that 'there is a piece of the centre-left that broke away from us and went there and gave them the strength to win'. 'The real winner,' emphasises the defeated candidate, 'is Marcello Pittella with Azione, who was instrumental in making them win.

Renzi: you win in the centre, Pd chose M5S and lost

'In Basilicata we win in the centre. Vito Bardi chose us and won. The PD chose the Five Star Movement and lost. Everything else is boredom,' was the comment of Iv Renzi's leader.

Only three women in the Council (out of 20 elected)

In the new Lucanian regional council, there will be only three women out of 20 elected: for the Five Star Movement, the only two elected are Alessia Araneo and Viviana Verri. Fratelli d'Italia (a total of four councillors) has elected Maddalena Fazzari in the province of Potenza. All three will sit on the Lucanian regional council for the first time. None of the five candidates deemed 'unpresentable' by the Anti-Mafia Parliamentary Commission were elected.

Supporting the outgoing and re-elected governor Bardi will be twelve centre-right councillors. Eight for the centre-left in opposition.

Preferences: Chiorazzo gets the most votes, Pittella second

In terms of preferences, with 7,284 votes obtained in the province of Potenza, the founder of the Auxilium Angelo Chiorazzo cooperative (Basilicata Casa Comune), long indicated as a candidate for the presidency of the Basilicata Region for the centre-left, was the most voted candidate. In second place, with 7,157 preferences, Marcello Pittella, who was lined up with Azione in support of the outgoing centre-right governor and reappointed Bardi. From 2013 to 2018 Pittella was governor with the PD and in the last legislature had been a centre-left councillor in opposition to Bardi himself.

Meloni: Basilicata confirms support for our policies

"Victory for the centre-right and the entire coalition in Basilicata, with Vito Bardi reconfirmed as President of the Region. I sincerely thank all the citizens who wanted to confirm their support for our policies. Your trust is the engine that pushes us forward every day,' Premier Giorgia Meloni wrote on social media. "My best wishes for good work to Vito Bardi, to the junta that will take office and to the elected councillors," added the FdI leader. Ahead with commitment and determination'.

Tajani: good governance wins with Bardi

Among the first to congratulate Bardi was Forza Italia leader Antonio Tajani, who had immediately fought with allies for the re-candidacy of the outgoing governor, chosen in 2019 by Silvio Berlusconi. "Good government wins, Basilicata wins. Congratulations President Bardi,' is the inscription that stands out on the photo published a short while ago on his social networks by Antonio Tajani, the blue number one, showing him together with Bardi.