The politics of Lombardy, a region of Italy, takes place in the framework of an "anomalous presidential" representative democracy or prime-ministerial system with an executive presidency, 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.Piergiorgio Corbetta; Maria Serena Piretti, Atlante storico-elettorale d'Italia, Zanichelli, Bologna 2009

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".

Executive branch

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 17 members: the President and 16 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.Lombardy Region – Regional Cabinet

Current composition Attilio Fontana was officially sworn in for a second term as President on 1 March 2023. Current executive was officially sworn in on 10 March 2023.

PartyMembersLegaLegaPresident and 5 assessorsBrothers of ItalyFdIVice President and 6 assessorsForza ItaliaFI2 assessorsIdeal LombardyLI2 assessors Assessor Party Delegate for Marco Alparone(vice president) FdI Finance and budget Guido Bertolaso LI Healthcare and welfare Giorgio Maione LI Environment and climate Claudia Terzi Lega Public infrastructures Franco Lucente FdI Public transports and sustainable mobility Romano La Russa FdI Public security and Civil Protection Simona Tironi FI Education and labour Alessandro Fermi Lega University and research Guido Guidesi Lega Economic development Elena Lucchini Lega Family, social policies, disability and equal opportunities Paolo Franco FdI Social housing Barbara Mazzali FdI Tourism, marketing and fashion Massimo Sartori Lega Local authorities and mountains Francesca Caruso FdI Cultural heritage Alessandro Beduschi FdI Agriculture, food policies and food sovereignty Gianluca Comazzi FI Regional parks and territory

List of presidents

The current President of Lombardy is Attilio Fontana, who is serving his second term after winning the 2023 regional election.

Legislative branch

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.Ministry of the Interior – Electoral Archive

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.

Current composition

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)3,237,101Giuseppe Sala(metropolitan mayor)Independent (Democratic Party)2021 Brescia (list)1,254,322Emanuele MoraschiniIndependent (Forza Italia)2023 Bergamo (list)1,102,670Gianfranco GafforelliForza Italia2026 Varese (list)878,059Marco MagriniIndependent (Democratic Party)2023 Monza and Brianza (list)870,112Luca SantambrogioLega 2019 Como (list)594,657Fiorenzo BongiascaIndependent (Democratic Party)2022 Pavia (list)534,691Giovanni PalliLega 2021 Mantua (list)404,440Carlo BottaniIndependent (Forza Italia)2021 Cremona (list)351,287Roberto MarianiDemocratic Party2024 Lecco (list)332,435Alessandra HofmannIndependent (Lega)2021 Lodi (list)227,064Fabrizio SantantonioDemocratic Party2022 Sondrio (list)178,208Davide MenegolaIndependent (Forza Italia)2023

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)1,371,498Giuseppe SalaIndependent (Democratic Party)2021 Brescia (list)196,850Laura CastellettiIndependent (Democratic Party)2023 Monza (list)122,099Paolo PilottoDemocratic Party2022 Bergamo (list)120,207Elena CarnevaliDemocratic Party2024 Como (list)83,626Alessandro RapineseIndependent2022 Varese (list)78,875Davide GalimbertiDemocratic Party2021 Pavia (list)71,159Michele LissiaDemocratic Party2024 Cremona (list)70,943Andrea VirgilioDemocratic Party2024 Mantua (list)48,648Mattia PalazziDemocratic Party2020 Lecco (list)47,060Mauro GattinoniDemocratic Party2020 Lodi (list)44,793Andrea FuregatoDemocratic Party2022 Sondrio (list)21,180Marco ScaramelliniLega 2023

Other municipalities Cities with more than 40,000 inhabitants. Municipality Inhabitants Mayor Party Election Busto Arsizio82,981Emanuele AntonelliBrothers of Italy2021 Sesto San Giovanni79,732Roberto Di StefanoLega 2022 Cinisello Balsamo74,534Giacomo GhilardiLega 2023 Vigevano62,384Andrea CeffaLega 2020 Legnano59,816Lorenzo RadiceDemocratic Party2020 Gallarate52,826Andrea CassaniLega 2021 Rho50,604Pietro RomanoDemocratic Party2021 Paderno Dugnano47,084Anna VariscoDemocratic Party2024 Cologno Monzese46,790Stefano ZanelliDemocratic Party2023 Lissone46,142Laura BorellaLega 2022 Seregno44,832Alberto RossiDemocratic Party2023 Desio41,635Simone GargiuloDemocratic Party2021 Rozzano41,437Gianni FerrettiForza Italia2019

Parties and elections

Latest regional election

In the latest regional election, which took place on 12–13 February 2023, Attilio Fontana (Lega Lombarda–Lega) was re-elected President of Lombardy with the support of centre-right coalition.

+ Candidates Votes % Seats Parties Votes % Seats Attilio Fontana1,774,47754.671 Brothers of Italy725,40225.1822 League – Lombard League476,17516.5314 Forza Italia208,4207.236 Fontana for President177,3876.165 Us Moderates – Renaissance33,7111.171Total1,621,09556.2748 Pierfrancesco Majorino1,101,41733.931 Democratic Party628,77421.8217 Five Star Movement113,2293.933 Civic Pact – Majorino for President110,1263.822 Greens and Left Alliance93,0193.231Total945,14832.8023 Letizia Moratti320,3469.87– Moratti for President152,6525.304 Action – Italia Viva122,3564.253Total275,0089.557 Mara Ghidorzi49,5141.53– People's Union39,9131.39– Total candidates3,245,754100.002Total parties2,881,164100.0078 Source: Ministry of the Interior – Historical Archive of Elections

References

External links Lombardy Region Regional Council of Lombardy Constitution of Lombardy