Politics of Lombardy

The Politics of Lombardy, Italy, takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democracy, whereby the President of the Region is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Legislative power is vested in the Regional Council of Lombardy, while executive power is exercised by the Regional Government led by the President, who is directly elected by the people. The current Statute, which regulates the functioning of the regional institutions, has been in force since 2008.

Prior to the rise of Fascism, most of the deputies elected in Lombardy were part of the liberal establishment (see Historical Right, Historical Left and Liberals), which governed Italy for decades. Lombardy was also the birthplace of the Italian Workers' Party, forerunner of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), and its eastern and northern provinces were an early stronghold of the Italian People's Party. In the 1924 general election, which led Italy to dictatorship, Lombardy was one of the few regions, along with Veneto and Piedmont, which did not return an absolute majority to the National Fascist Party. After World War II Lombardy became a stronghold of the Christian Democracy, since the 1980s in association with the PSI, which was especially strong in Milan.

Traditionally, Lombardy gives centrist results in elections, reflecting its strong middle class. The Communists and their successors – the Democratic Party of the Left, the Democrats of the Left and the present-day Democratic Party – never prevailed. In the 1980s Lombardy saw the organisation of a new regionalist party, the Lombard League (LL), then merged into the Northern League (LN) in the 1990s.

Lombardy is now a stronghold of the "centre-right coalition" composed of the LN and the liberal conservative Forza Italia (FI), founded by Lombard entrepreneur Silvio Berlusconi. The coalition, which was joined by the LN in 2000, has governed the region since 1995, under three Presidents, Roberto Formigoni (CDU/FI/PdL), Roberto Maroni (LN) and Attilio Fontana (LN).

On 22 October 2017 an autonomy referendum took place in Lombardy: 38.3% of Lombards participated and 95.3% voted "yes".

Legislative branch

Main article: Regional Council of Lombardy

Composition of the Regional Council since 2023:
  FdI (22)
  PD (18)
  Lega (14)
  FI (6)
  Fontana List (5)
  Moratti List (4)
  M5S (3)
  A–IV (3)
  Majorino List (2)
  AVS (1)

Composition of the Regional Council by coalition in 2018:
  Centre-right (49)
  Centre-left (18)
  M5S (13)

The Regional Council of Lombardy is composed of 80 members. 64 councillors are elected in provincial constituencies by proportional representation using the largest remainder method with a Droop quota and open lists, while 16 councillors (elected in a general ticket) come from a "regional list", including the President-elect. One seat is reserved for the candidate who comes second. If a coalition wins more than 50% of the total seats in the Council with PR, as happened during the 2000 election, only 8 candidates from the regional list will be chosen and the number of those elected in provincial constituencies will be 72. If the winning coalition receives less than 50% of votes, as happened during the 1995 election, special seats are added to the Council to ensure a large majority for the President's coalition.

The Council is elected for a five-year term, but, if the President suffers a vote of no confidence, resigns or dies, under the simul stabunt, simul cadent clause introduced in 1999 (literally they will stand together or they will fall together), also the Council is dissolved and a snap election is called.

2018–2023 composition

Distribution of Seats in the Regional Council
Political Group	2018	Now
Lombard League–League	29	27
Democratic Party	16	11
Five Star Movement	13	10
Forza Italia	14	8
Brothers of Italy	3	6
North Committee	–	4
Action–Italia Viva	–	3
Gori List	2	–
Fontana List	1	1
Energies for Italy / Better Lombardy	1	1
+Europe	–	1
Us with Italy	1	–
Mixed group	–	5

Source: Regional Council of Lombardy

Executive branch

Main article: President of Lombardy

Palazzo Lombardia in Milan is the seat of the Regional Government

The Regional Cabinet (Giunta Regionale) is presided by the President of the Region (Presidente della Regione), who is elected for a five-year term, and is currently composed by 16 members: the President and 15 regional Assessors, including a Vice President (Vice Presidente), while 4 under-secretaries (Sottosegretari) help the President but have no voting rights in the cabinet meetings.

Current composition

Party			Members
	Lombard League–League	LL	President and 10 assessors
	Forza Italia	FI	Vice President and 4 assessors
	Brothers of Italy	FdI	2 assessors
	Popular Lombardy	LP	1 assessor

5 April 2018 – 8 January 2021

Assessor	Party		Delegate for	Province
Fabrizio Sala (vice president)		FI	Research, university, export and internationalization	MB
Davide Caparini		LL	Finance and simplification	BS
Massimo Sertori		LL	Local government, mountains and small municipalities	SO
Claudia Terzi		LL	Infrastructures, transports and sustainable mobility	BG
Melania De Nichilo Rizzoli		FI	Public instruction and labour	MI
Silvia Piani		LL	Family, parenthood and equal opportunities	PV
Stefano Bolognini		LL	Social policies, social housing and disabilities	MI
Riccardo De Corato		FdI	Public security	MI
Martina Cambiaghi		LL	Youth and sport	MB
Alessandro Mattinzoli		FI	Economic development	BS
Pietro Foroni		LL	Territory and civil protection	LO
Lara Magoni		FdI	Tourism, marketing and fashion	BG
Giulio Gallera		FI	Healthcare and welfare	MI
Stefano Bruno Galli		LL	Autonomy and cultural heritage	MI
Fabio Rolfi		LL	Agricolture, food policies and green systems	BS
Raffaele Cattaneo		LP	Environment and climate	VA

8 January 2021 – 2 November 2022

On 8 January 2021 the President of Lombardy carried out a reshuffle of the regional executive.

Assessor	Party		Delegate for	Province
Letizia Moratti (Vice President)		FI	Healthcare and welfare	MI
Fabrizio Sala		FI	Research, university, export and internationalization	MB
Davide Caparini		LL	Finance and simplification	BS
Massimo Sertori		LL	Local government, mountains and small municipalities	SO
Claudia Terzi		LL	Infrastructures, transports and sustainable mobility	BG
Melania De Nichilo Rizzoli		FI	Public instruction and labour	MI
Alessandra Locatelli		LL	Family, parenthood and equal opportunities	PV
Stefano Bolognini		LL	Metropolitan City, youth and communication	MI
Riccardo De Corato		FdI	Public security	MI
Antonio Rossi		LL	Sport	MB
Alessandro Mattinzoli		FI	Social policies, social housing and disabilities	BS
Pietro Foroni		LL	Territory and civil protection	LO
Lara Magoni		FdI	Tourism, marketing and fashion	BG
Stefano Bruno Galli		LL	Autonomy and cultural heritage	MI
Fabio Rolfi		LL	Agricolture, food policies and green systems	BS
Raffaele Cattaneo		LP	Environment and climate	VA
Guido Guidesi		LL	Economic development, Recovery found	LO

List of presidents

Main article: List of presidents of Lombardy

The current President of Lombardy is Attilio Fontana, who is serving for his first term after winning the 2018 regional election.

President			Term of office		Party	Administration	Coalition	Legislature
			Duration in years, months and days
Presidents elected by the Regional Council (1970–1995)
1		Piero Bassetti (Born 1928)	29 July 1970	27 June 1974	DC	Bassetti	DC • PSI • PSDI • PRI	I (1970)
			3 years, 10 months and 30 days
2		Cesare Golfari (1932–1994)	27 June 1974	1 October 1979	DC	Golfari I	DC • PSI • PSDI • PRI
						Golfari II	DC • PSI • PSDI • PRI	II (1975)
			5 years, 3 months and 5 days
3		Giuseppe Guzzetti (Born 1934)	1 October 1979	17 July 1987	DC	Guzzetti I	DC • PSI • PSDI • PRI
						Guzzetti II	DC • PSI • PSDI • PRI • PLI	III (1980)
						Guzzetti III	DC • PSI • PSDI • PRI • PLI	IV (1985)
			7 years, 9 months and 17 days
4		Bruno Tabacci (Born 1946)	17 July 1987	31 January 1989	DC	Tabacci	DC • PSI • PSDI • PRI • PLI
			1 year, 6 months and 15 days
5		Giuseppe Giovenzana (Born 1940)	31 January 1989	12 December 1992	DC	Giovenzana I	DC • PSI • PSDI • PRI • PLI
						Giovenzana II	DC • PSI • PSDI • PRI • PLI	V (1990)
			3 years, 10 months and 13 days
6		Fiorella Ghilardotti (1946–2005)	12 December 1992	4 June 1994	PDS	Ghilardotti	DC • PDS • PSI • FdV • PSDI
			1 year, 5 months and 24 days
7		Paolo Arrigoni (1957–2022)	4 June 1994	27 June 1995	LN	Arrigoni	PPI • LN • PDS
			1 year and 24 days
Directly-elected presidents (since 1995)
8		Roberto Formigoni (Born 1947)	27 June 1995	18 March 2013	CDU	Formigoni I	Pole for Freedoms (FI • AN • CDU • CCD)	VI (1995)
					FI	Formigoni II	House of Freedoms (FI • LN • AN • CDU • CCD)	VII (2000)
						Formigoni III	House of Freedoms (FI • LN • AN • UDC)	VIII (2005)
					PdL	Formigoni IV	PdL • LN	IX (2010)
			17 years, 8 months and 20 days
9		Roberto Maroni (1955–2022)	18 March 2013	26 March 2018	LN	Maroni	LN • FI • FdI	X (2013)
			5 years and 9 days
10		Attilio Fontana (Born 1952)	26 March 2018	Incumbent	Lega	Fontana I	Lega • FI • FdI	XI (2018)
			6 years, 9 months and 1 day			Fontana II	FdI • Lega • FI	XII (2023)

Local government

Provinces

Lombardy is divided in twelve provinces, which are a traditional form of local administration in the region, the first ones being yet established under Habsburg rule by Maria Theresa of Austria in the 18th century. Socialist and Christian-democratic ideas had an early diffusion in quite all the provinces around World War I. After the Fascist parenthesis, left-wing parties found their strongholds in south-eastern agricultural provinces near Emilia, especially in the Province of Mantua, while Christian Democracy obtained high scores in the northern mountainous part of the Region, where nowadays the Lega Lombarda–Lega gets a strong backing.

After the 2014 reform of local authorities the Province of Milan was replaced by the new Metropolitan City of Milan. Since 2014 the president of the province is no more elected directly by citizens, but is chosen by mayors and councilors of the municipalities of the province.

Province	Inhabitants	President		Party	Election
Metropolitan City of Milan (former Province of Milan)	3,237,101		Giuseppe Sala (metropolitan mayor)	Independent (Democratic Party)	2021
Brescia	1,254,322		Samuele Alghisi	Democratic Party	2018
Bergamo	1,102,670		Gianfranco Gafforelli	Independent (Democratic Party)	2018
Varese	878,059		Emanuele Antonelli	Brothers of Italy	2018
Monza and Brianza	870,112		Luca Santambrogio	Lega Lombarda–League	2019
Como	594,657		Fabrizio Bongiasca	Independent (Democratic Party)	2018
Pavia	534,691		Giovanni Palli	Lega Lombarda–League	2021
Mantua	404,440		Carlo Bottani	Independent (Forza Italia)	2021
Cremona	351,287		Paolo Mirko Signoroni	Democratic Party	2019
Lecco	332,435		Alessandra Hofmann	Forza Italia	2021
Lodi	227,064		Fabrizio Santantonio	Democratic Party	2022
Sondrio	178,208		Elio Moretti	Forza Italia	2018

Municipalities

Lombardy is also divided in 1,546 comuni (municipalities), which have even more history, having been established in the Middle Ages when they were the main places of government. There are twelve provincial capital cities in Lombardy and twenty-four comuni have more than 40,000 inhabitants, most of which are ruled by the centre-left.

Provincial capitals

Municipality	Inhabitants	Mayor		Party	Election
Milan (list)	1,371,498		Giuseppe Sala	Independent (Democratic Party)	2021
Brescia (list)	196,850		Emilio Del Bono	Democratic Party	2018
Monza (list)	122,099		Paolo Pilotto	Democratic Party	2022
Bergamo (list)	120,207		Giorgio Gori	Democratic Party	2019
Como (list)	83,626		Alessandro Rapinese	Independent	2022
Varese (list)	78,875		Davide Galimberti	Democratic Party	2021
Pavia (list)	71,159		Fabrizio Fracassi	Lega Lombarda–League	2019
Cremona (list)	70,943		Gianluca Galimberti	Democratic Party	2019
Mantua (list)	48,648		Mattia Palazzi	Democratic Party	2020
Lecco (list)	47,060		Mauro Gattinoni	Democratic Party	2020
Lodi (list)	44,793		Andrea Furegato	Democratic Party	2017
Sondrio (list)	21,180		Marco Scaramellini	Lega Lombarda–Lega	2018

Others with 40,000+ inhabitants

Municipality	Inhabitants	Mayor		Party	Election
Busto Arsizio	82,981		Emanuele Antonelli	Brothers of Italy	2021
Sesto San Giovanni	79,732		Roberto Di Stefano	Lega Lombarda–League	2022
Cinisello Balsamo	74,534		Giacomo Ghilardi	Lega Lombarda–League	2018
Vigevano	62,384		Andrea Ceffa	Lega Lombarda–League	2020
Legnano	59,816		Lorenzo Radice	Democratic Party	2020
Gallarate	52,826		Andrea Cassani	Lega Lombarda–League	2021
Rho	50,604		Pietro Romano	Democratic Party	2021
Paderno Dugnano	47,084		Ezio Casati	Democratic Party	2019
Cologno Monzese	46,790		Angelo Rocchi	Lega Lombarda–League	2020
Lissone	46,142		Laura Borella	Lega Lombarda–League	2022
Seregno	44,832		Alberto Rossi	Democratic Party	2018
Desio	41,635		Simone Gargiulo	Democratic Party	2021
Rozzano	41,437		Gianni Ferretti	Forza Italia	2019

Parties and elections

Main articles: List of political parties in Lombardy and Elections in Lombardy

Latest regional election

Main article: 2018 Lombard regional election

In the latest regional election, which took place on 4 March 2018, Attilio Fontana of the League was elected President of Lombardy with the support of centre-right coalition. The election was paired with the 2018 general election.

4 March 2018 Lombard regional election results

Candidates		Votes	%	Seats	Parties		Votes	%	Seats
	Attilio Fontana	2,793,370	49.75	1
						League – Lombard League	1,553,514	29.64	28
						Forza Italia	750,628	14.32	14
						Brothers of Italy	190,804	3.64	3
						Fontana for President	76,637	1.46	1
						Us with Italy – UDC	66,355	1.26	1
						Energies for Lombardy	27,967	0.53	1
						Pensioners' Party	20,259	0.38	–
					Total		2,686,610	51.29	48
	Giorgio Gori	1,633,367	29.09	1
						Democratic Party	1,008,496	19.24	15
						Gori for President	158,671	3.02	2
						More Europe	108,743	2.07	–
						Lombardy for the Autonomies Target	62,840	1.19	–
						Together	35,071	0.66	–
						Popular Civic List	20,668	0.39	–
						Progressive Lombardy	20,036	0.38	–
					Total		1,414,674	26.99	17
	Dario Violi	974,984	17.36	–		Five Star Movement	933,243	17.80	13
	Onorio Rosati	108,407	1.93	–		Free and Equal	111,296	2.12	–
	Angela De Rosa	50,368	0.89	–		CasaPound	45,416	0.86	–
	Massimo Gatti	38,194	0.68	–		Left for Lombardy	35,713	0.68	–
	Giulio Arrighini	15,791	0.28	–		Great North	13,769	0.26	–
Total candidates		5,614,481	100.00	2	Total parties		5,240,126	100.00	78
Source: Ministry of the Interior – Historical Archive of Elections

External links

• Lombardy Region
• Regional Council of Lombardy
• Constitution of Lombardy