Politics of Marche

The Politics of Marche, 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, 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 2004.

Prior to the rise of Fascism, most of the deputies elected in Marche were part of the liberal establishment (see Historical Right, Historical Left and Liberals), which governed Italy for decades. The region, especially its northern part (largerly inhabited by Romagnoli), was also a stronghold of the Italian Republican Party. Marche was one of the regions in which the Italian People's Party did better in the 1919 general election and the National Fascist Party took more than 60% in the 1924 general election.

After World War II Marche was an early stronghold of Christian Democracy and later one of the few regions where the Christian Democrats and the Italian Communist Party were close in terms of popular vote. Since 1995 the region has been a stronghold of the post-Communist parties, from the Democratic Party of the Left to the present-day Democratic Party.

Executive

Main article: President of Marche

The Regional Government (Giunta Regionale) is presided by the President of the Region (Presidente della Regione), who is elected for a five-year term, and is composed by the President and the Ministers (Assessori), who cannot be more than ten, including a Vice President.

List of Presidents

Main article: List of Presidents of Marche

#		Name (Birth-death)	Term in office		Party	Coalition	Legislature
1		Giuseppe Serrini (–)	1 August 1970	19 December 1972	Christian Democracy	DC - PSI - PSDI - PRI 1 August 1970 – 19 December 1972	I (1970)
2		Dino Tiberi (1923–2013)	19 December 1972	10 September 1975	Christian Democracy	DC - PSI - PSDI - PRI 19 December 1972 – 10 September 1975
3		Adriano Ciaffi (1936–)	10 September 1975	7 September 1978	Christian Democracy	DC - PSI - PSDI - PRI 10 September 1975 – 7 September 1978	II (1975)
4		Emidio Massi (1922–)	7 September 1978	12 May 1985	Italian Socialist Party	DC - PSI - PSDI - PRI 7 September 1978– 12 May 1985	III (1980)
			12 May 1985	22 July 1990		DC - PSI - PSDI - PRI 12 May 1985 – 22 July 1990	IV (1985)
5		Rodolfo Giampaoli (–)	22 July 1990	29 July 1993	Christian Democracy	DC - PSI - PSDI - PRI 22 July 1990 – 19 July 1993	V (1990)
6		Gaetano Recchi (1934–)	29 July 1993	19 June 1995	Italian Socialist Party	DC - PSI - Greens 29 July 1993 – 19 June 1995
Elected presidents (1995-present)
7		Vito D'Ambrosio (1943–)	19 June 1995	15 May 2000	Democratic Party of the Left then Democrats of the Left	PDS - PRC - Greens - PRI 19 June 1995 – 15 May 2000	VI (1995)
			15 May 2000	26 April 2005		DS - PPI - Dem - PRC - PdCI - Greens - UDEUR 15 May 2000 – 26 April 2005	VII (2000)
8		Gian Mario Spacca (1953–)	26 April 2005	8 April 2010	The Daisy then Democratic Party	DL - DS - PRC - PdCI - Greens - UDEUR 26 April 2005 – 8 April 2010	VIII (2005)
			8 April 2010	1 June 2015		PD - IdV - UDC - API - Greens 8 April 2010 – 1 June 2015	IX (2010)
9		Luca Ceriscioli (1966–)	1 June 2015	Incumbent	Democratic Party	PD - IdV - UdC - SC - PSI - Greens 1 June 2015 - Incumbent	X (2015)

Legislative branch

Main article: Regional Council of Marche

The Regional Council of Marche (Consiglio Regionale della Marche) is composed of 40 members. 32 councillors are elected in provincial constituencies by proportional representation using the largest remainder method with a Droop quota and open lists, while 8 councillors (elected in bloc) 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, only 4 candidates from the regional list will be chosen and the number of those elected in provincial constituencies will be 36. If the winning coalition receives less than 40% of votes 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.

Local government

Provinces

Marche is divided in five provinces, which were first established in 1861. The centre-left Democratic Party governs four provinces out of five, including Macerata, whose president is a member of the Union of the Centre, and Fermo, whose president is a member of Left Ecology Freedom, a left-wing outfit.

Province	Inhabitants	established	President		Party	Election
Ancona	481,028	1861 #EF1C27	Patrizia Casagrande Esposto, commissioner	Democratic Party	2007
Pesaro and Urbino	364,896	1861 #EF1C27	Matteo Ricci	Democratic Party	2009
Macerata	324,188	1861 #87CEFA	Antonio Pettinari	Union of the Centre	2011
Ascoli Piceno	214,014	1861 #0087DC	Piero Celani	The People of Freedom	2009
Fermo	177,993	2009 #EF1C27	Fabrizio Cesetti	Left Ecology Freedom	2009

Municipalities

Marche is also divided in 239 comuni (municipalities), which have even more history, having been established in the Middle Ages, when they were the main places of government. The centre-left Democratic Party is widely the strongest party in local government, having the majority of mayors throughout the region.

Municipality	Inhabitants	Mayor		Party	Election
Ancona	102,500 #EF1C27	Valeria Mancinelli	Democratic Party	2013
Pesaro	98,438 #EF1C27	Luca Ceriscioli	Democratic Party	2009
Fano	63,922 #0087DC	Stefano Aguzzi	The People of Freedom	2009
Ascoli Piceno	51,168 #0087DC	Guido Castelli	The People of Freedom	2009
San Benedetto del Tronto	48,036 #EF1C27	Giovanni Gaspari	Democratic Party	2011
Senigallia	44,673 #EF1C27	Maurizio Mangialardi	Democratic Party	2010
Macerata	43,000 #EF1C27	Romano Carancini	Democratic Party	2010
Jesi	40,502 #FFEB3B	Massimo Bacci	Civic list	2012
Civitanova Marche	40,400 #EF1C27	Tommaso Claudio Corvatta	Democratic Party	2012
Fermo	37,869 #EF1C27	Nella Brambatti	Democratic Party	2011

Parties and elections

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

Latest regional election

Main article: Marche regional election, 2015

In the latest regional election, which took place on 31 May 2015, Luca Ceriscioli of the Democratic Party (PD) was elected President by defeating a fractured field of opponents, notably including the incumbent President, Gian Mario Spacca, who had switched sides from the PD to a centre-right coalition led by Forza Italia.

Candidates & parties	votes	votes (%)	seats
Luca Ceriscioli	251,050	41.07	1
Democratic Party	186,357	35.13	15
United for Marche (incl. PSI, FdV, IdV, SC)	26,677	5.03	2
Marche Populars–UdC (incl. CD, Demo.S)	18,109	3.41	1
Giovanni Maggi	133,178	21.78	–
Five Star Movement	100,202	18.89	5
Francesco Acquaroli	116,048	18.98	–
Lega Nord Marche	69,065	13.02	3
Brothers of Italy	34,538	6.51	1
Gian Mario Spacca	86,848	14.21	–
Forza Italia	49,884	9.40	2
Marche 2020–Popular Area	21,049	3.97	1
Christian Democracy	4,388	0.83	-
Edoardo Mentrasti	24,212	3.82	–
Other Marche–United Left (incl. SEL, PRC, PdCI)	20,266	3.82	-
Total	530,535	100.00	30

Source: Marche Region

External links

• Marche Region
• Regional Council of Marche
• Constitution of Marche