After months of controversy, the moment of truth has arrived. The citizens of Basilicata they will go to the polls for the election of the President of the Region and the renewal of the Regional Council, made up of 20 members. Polling stations will be open from 7am to 23pm Sunday April 21 and from 7 to 15 Monday 22 April. After the electoral appointments in Sardinia and Abruzzo, won respectively by center left e center, therefore comes a new electoral test by majority and oppositions in view of the European elections scheduled for June.
Basilicata elections: the three presidential candidates
There are three presidential candidates in total in Basilicata. The first is the outgoing president Vito Bardi, supported by Forza Italia, Fratelli d'Italia, Lega, UdC-Christian Democracy, Noi Moderates, Lucanian Pride and the civic list La Vera Basilicata. After weeks of arguments and controversies, they also took sides on Bardi's side Action and Italia Viva.
He will be there to challenge him for the center-left Piero Marrese, president of the province of Matera, supported by wide field of the Democratic Party, 5 Star Movement and Green-Left Alliance, but also from the Basilicata Unita and Basilicata Casa Comune lists. The latter refers to the entrepreneur Angelo Chiorazzo, who initially should have been a candidate, but then chose to withdraw from the race. Chiorazzo will still be at the top of the list of Basilicata Casa Comune for the province of Potenza.
The third candidate is the journalist Eustachio Madness, former regional coordinator of the pan-European party, and supported by Volt, a pro-European and anti-populist formation present in 32 states, with a fair amount of roots also in Basilicata.
Basilicata elections: how do you vote? Split voting prohibited
Elections will be held the single shift formula: each voter must express a preference within the chosen list and vote for the Presidential candidate on a single ballot. The candidate with the most votes will win. You can vote for one of the provincial lists by drawing a mark in the corresponding rectangle or by writing the surname or first and last name of one of the candidates on the same list. The vote expressed for a provincial list will be attributed to the candidate President of the list or coalition to which it is connected.
The Lucanian electoral law does not provide for split voting, i.e. the possibility of voting for a list and for a presidential candidate that are not connected to each other. It will instead be possible to express one double gender preference (one male candidate and one female candidate).
A majority premium is expected: if the President-elect obtains 30% of the votes he will be able to have access to a majority bonus of 11 seats. Over 40% of the votes, however, there will be 14 seats.
Basilicata elections: the regional council
They are 258 candidates to the position of regional councilor, including all the outgoing councilors and 18 of the 20 outgoing councilors. Among the eligible candidates the names of stand out Marcello Pittella, governor from 2013 to 2018 and now leader in the Potenza area for Action, of Mario Polese and Luca Braia (Italia Viva) in the civic “Orgoglio Lucano”; Of Dario De Luca, mayor of Potenza from 2014 to 2019.
