Veneto, Campania and Apulia: here are the candidates and challenges in the coalitions

The name chosen by the centre-right is that of Edmondo Cirielli, current Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Cirielli is a historical exponent of Fratelli d'Italia and is supported not only by the majority parties, but also by the Unione di Centro, Gianfranco Rotondi's Christian Democrats and the civic lists 'Cirielli presidente' and 'Pensioners-Consumers'.

In addition to Cirielli and Fico, there are four other presidential candidates in the Campania elections: the mayor of Terni Stefano Bandecchi with 'Dimensione Bandecchi'; Nicola Campanile with 'Per le Persone e la Comunità'; Giuliano Granato with 'Campania Popolare', a list with candidates from Potere al Popolo and the Italian Communist Party; and Carlo Arnese for 'Forza del Popolo'.

Roberto Fico is given as the winner by the latest publishable polls with a 7-10 point lead. But surely 'Cirielli will not lose badly', are convinced the Fratelli d'Italia, who are not giving up on some last-minute electoral promises, such as the one launched by the candidate governor of '100 euro a month to those who receive minimum pensions in Campania' and the possible reopening of the terms of the building amnesty that was passed in 2003 by the Berlusconi government (in the form of amendments reported to the manoeuvre by Fdi)

The vote, on the other hand, will also serve to measure the weights within the coalitions, with Fi, the second largest party on the centre-right, not hiding its ambition to overtake Fdi, decisively improving on its 2020 result (which had already passed double figures at the political elections). In the centre-left, it will be important to understand when the polls close how much the list of 'sheriff' De Luca ('A testa alta') will weigh: whether it will take more votes than the M5s and how many councillors it will elect. Because it is no mystery that the outgoing governor, after the go-ahead given to Fico with difficulty, aims to condition the balance in the new regional council.

In Apulia, the candidate of the centre-left coalition is Antonio Decaro, former mayor of Bari and currently MEP for the Democratic Party. Decaro is also supported by the 5 Star Movement, Alleanza Verdi-Sinistra and three civic lists ('Decaro Presidente', 'Per la Puglia' and 'Avanti Popolari con Decaro'), while among the centrist forces he is supported by Azione, Italia Viva and Più Europa, with some exponents present in the civic lists linked to them. The centre-right, instead, after months of internal discussion, has decided to converge on entrepreneur Luigi Lobuono, former president of the Fiera del Levante, supported by Fratelli d'Italia, Lega, Forza Italia, Noi Moderati and the civic La Puglia con noi. In addition to the candidates of the two main coalitions, there are two further political proposals. Ada Donno, supported by the 'Puglia Pacifista Popolare' list, which brings together Potere al Popolo and Partito Comunista Italiano. And Sabino Mangano, former councillor of the 5 Star Movement in Bari, supported by the civic list 'Alleanza Civica per la Puglia'.

In the last consultations in September 2020, the centre-left stood separate from the 5-Star Movement. The centre-left has led the region for 20 years (two terms of Nichi Vendola and two of Emiliano)

In both Apulia and Campania, the electoral law in Veneto allows disjointed voting, i.e. the possibility of voting for a certain presidential candidate and for a list other than those supporting him or her. It is possible to express a preference for the presidential candidate or only for a list, in which case the vote is also in favour of the presidential candidate linked to the list. Up to two preferences may be expressed for councillor candidates, but the votes must go to candidates belonging to the same list and of different gender (one man and one woman or vice versa).

In Apulia, in order to compete for the distribution of seats, individual lists must exceed the threshold of 4 per cent if they are in a coalition, and 8 per cent if they stand alone. In Campania, in order to win seats, a list must exceed 2.5 per cent of the valid votes at the regional level In Veneto, seats are distributed at the regional level among coalitions that have obtained at least 5 per cent of the valid votes or are composed of at least one group of lists that have obtained at least 3 per cent of the valid votes.