The 1995 Piedmontese regional election took place on 23 April 1995. For the first time, the president of Piedmont was directly elected by the people; the election was not yet binding and the president-elect could have been replaced during the term.
In an upset, Enzo Ghigo of (FI) was elected president of the region, defeating Giuseppe Pichetto, an independent politician running for the country's centre-left coalition, and Domenico Comino of the (Northern League) regional branch Lega Nord Piemont (Northern League Piedmont). FI, which was founded the year before by Silvio Berlusconi, formed the People's Pole joint list and became the largest party in the region with 26.7% of the vote, while the Democrats of the Left came second with 21.7%.
Electoral system Regional elections in Piedmont were ruled by the Tatarella law, which was approved in 1995 and provided for a mixed electoral system. Four fifths of the regional councilors were elected in provincial constituencies by proportional representation, using the largest remainder method with a Droop quota and open lists, while the residual votes and the unassigned seats were grouped into a single regional constituency, where the whole ratios and the highest remainders were divided with the Hare quota among the provincial party lists; one fifth of the council seats instead was reserved for regional lists and assigned with a majoritarian representation system, in which the leader of the regional list that scored the highest number of votes was elected to the presidency of the region, while the other candidates were elected regional councilors.
A threshold of 3% had been established for the provincial lists, which could still have entered the regional council if the regional list to which they were connected had scored at least 5% of valid votes. The panachage was also allowed; the voter can indicate a candidate for the presidency but prefer a provincial list connected to another candidate.
Parties and candidates Political party or allianceConstituent listsPrevious resultCandidateVotes (%)Seats Centre-left coalition Italian People's Party 27.9 18 Giuseppe Pichetto Democratic Party of the Left 22.8 14 Federation of the Greens 6.7 4 Pensioners' Party 1.4 1 Pact of DemocratsNorthern League Piedmont 5.1 3 Domenico Comino Centre-right coalition National Alliance 3.6 2 Enzo Ghigo Christian Democratic Centre Pannella List 1.2 1 Carmelo PalmaCommunist Refoundation Party Giovanni Alasia
Results + Candidates Votes % Seats Parties Votes % Seats Enzo Ghigo1,059,60239.7012 Forza Italia – The People's Pole588,17126.7114 National Alliance247,10311.226 Christian Democratic Centre65,0992.961Total900,37340.8821 Giuseppe Pichetto938,28035.16– Democratic Party of the Left478,61521.7311 Italian People's Party136,6646.213 Pact of Democrats76,5923.482 Federation of the Greens59,2382.691 Pensioners' Party35,1621.601 Populars and Democrats8,5070.39–Total794,77836.0918 Domenico Comino296,96611.13– Northern League Piedmont217,1949.865 Giovanni Alasia248,1589.30– Communist Refoundation Party203,8429.264 Carmelo Palma54,4362.04– Pannella List35,8991.63– Autonomist Front2,7030.12–Total38,6021.75– Alessandro Lupi45,4281.70– Greens Greens31,1451.41– Renzo Rabellino26,0060.97– Piedmont Nation of Europe16,3560.74– Total candidates2,668,876100.0012 Total parties2,202,290100.0048Source: Ministry of the Interior – Historical Archive of Elections