Politics of Sicily
|
The Politics of
History
The oldest organized party of Sicily was the
After
After the dissolution of these parties, in the early 1990s, the region was long governed by a "
Legislative branch
The Sicilian Regional Assembly is composed of 90 members (or deputies). 80 deputies are elected in
The Assembly 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 2001 (literally they will stand together or they will fall together), also the Assembly is dissolved and a snap election is called.
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 11 members: the President and 10 regional
Originally appointed by the Sicilian Regional Assembly, since 2001 de jure, he is elected by popular vote every five years under universal suffrage: the candidate who receives a plurality of votes, is elected.
His office is connected to the Regional Assembly (ARS), which is elected contextually: one fifth of the assembly seats are generally reserved to his supporters, which are wholesale elected concurrently with the President. The Assembly and the President are linked by an alleged
The President of Sicily promulgates regional laws and regulations. He can receive special administrative functions by the national government. The President is one of the 90 members of the Regional Assembly and, in this capacity, he can propose new laws. He appoints and dismiss the Regional Cabinet (called Giunta Regionale in
The Regional Cabinet prepares the budget, appoints the boards of public regional agencies and companies, manages assets, develops projects of governance, and resorts to the Constitutional Court of Italy if it thinks that a national law may violate regional powers. The President and the Cabinet are two different authorities of the Region: in matters within its competence, the Cabinet has the power to vote to give its approval.
List of presidents
The current
- Elected by the Regional Council (1947–2001)
№ | Name | Term of office | Political party | Legislature | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Giuseppe Alessi | 30 May 1947 | 13 June 1949 | DC | I (1947) | |
2 | Franco Restivo | 13 June 1949 | 20 July 1951 | DC | ||
20 July 1951 | 4 June 1955 | II (1951) | ||||
(1) | Giuseppe Alessi | 4 June 1955 | 4 April 1956 | DC | III (1955) | |
3 | Giuseppe La Loggia | 4 April 1956 | 13 May 1958 | DC | ||
4 | Silvio Milazzo | 13 May 1958 | 12 August 1959 | DC | ||
12 August 1959 | 23 February 1960 | IV (1959) | ||||
5 | Benedetto della Nicchiara | 23 February 1960 | 8 September 1961 | DC | ||
6 | Giuseppe D'Angelo | 8 September 1961 | 25 July 1963 | DC | ||
25 July 1963 | 4 August 1964 | V (1963) | ||||
7 | Francesco Coniglio | 4 August 1964 | 11 August 1967 | DC | ||
8 | Vincenzo Carollo | 11 August 1967 | 20 September 1969 | DC | VI (1967) | |
9 | Mario Fasino | 20 September 1969 | 10 August 1971 | DC | ||
10 August 1971 | 22 December 1972 | VII (1971) | ||||
10 | Vincenzo Giummarra | 22 December 1972 | 26 March 1974 | DC | ||
11 | Angelo Bonfiglio | 26 March 1974 | 13 August 1976 | DC | ||
13 August 1976 | 20 March 1978 | VIII (1976) | ||||
12 | Piersanti Mattarella | 20 March 1978 | 6 January 1980 | DC | ||
13 | Mario D'Acquisto | 6 January 1980 | 7 August 1981 | DC | ||
7 August 1981 | 23 December 1982 | IX (1981) | ||||
14 | Calogero Lo Giudice | 23 December 1982 | 19 October 1983 | DC | ||
15 | Santi Nicita | 19 October 1983 | 21 March 1984 | DC | ||
16 | Modesto Sardo | 21 March 1984 | 1 February 1985 | DC | ||
17 | Rino Nicolosi | 1 February 1985 | 12 August 1986 | DC | ||
12 August 1986 | 12 August 1991 | X (1986) | ||||
18 | Vincenzo Leanza | 12 August 1991 | 16 July 1992 | DC | XI (1991) | |
19 | Giuseppe Campione | 16 July 1992 | 21 December 1993 | DC | ||
20 | Francesco Martino | 21 December 1993 | 16 May 1995 | PLI | ||
21 | Matteo Graziano | 16 May 1995 | 18 July 1996 | PPI | ||
22 | Giuseppe Provenzano | 18 July 1996 | 20 January 1998 | FI | XII (1996) | |
23 | Giuseppe Drago | 20 January 1998 | 21 November 1998 | CCD | ||
24 | Angelo Capodicasa | 21 November 1998 | 26 July 2000 | DS | ||
(18) | Vincenzo Leanza | 26 July 2000 | 17 July 2001 | FI |
- Directly-elected presidents (since 2001)
N. | President | Term of office | Tenure (Years and days) |
Party | Coalition | Legislature | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
25 | Salvatore Cuffaro (1958– ) |
17 July 2001 |
15 June 2006 |
6 years, 193 days | CCD / UDC | FI–AN–CDC–CDU–NPSI | XIII (2001) | ||
15 June 2006 |
26 January 2008[a] |
MpA–AN
|
XIV (2006) | ||||||
26 | Raffaele Lombardo (1950– ) |
28 April 2008 |
10 November 2012[b] |
4 years, 196 days | MpA
|
MpA–UDC
|
XV (2008) | ||
27 | Rosario Crocetta (1951– ) |
10 November 2012 |
18 November 2017 |
5 years, 7 days | PD | PD–UDC–IM–SF–CpS | XVI (2012) | ||
28 | Nello Musumeci (1955– ) |
18 November 2017 |
13 October 2022 |
4 years, 329 days | DB
|
DB–FdI
|
XVI (2017) | ||
29 | Renato Schifani (1950– ) |
13 October 2022 |
Incumbent | 1 year, 195 days | FI | MpA–DC
|
XVII (2022) |
- ^ Resigned after being sentenced five years in prison for aiding and abetting the Mafia. His deputy Nicola Leanza (UDC) held the office till a new regional election was called.
- ^ Resigned on 31 July 2012 after being under investigation for external contribution with Mafia and pork-barrelling. Remained in office as Acting President till a new regional election was called.
Local government
This section needs to be updated.(September 2015) |
Provinces
Sicily was divided in nine provinces, which were a traditional form of local administration in the region. 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 central agricultural provinces, especially in the Province of Enna, but they didn't succeed in local elections, while Christian Democracy obtained high scores in others parts of the Region.
On 19 March 2013 the Sicilian Regional Assembly decided to turn them into Free Associations of Municipalities (Liberi consorzi tra comuni). Finally, on 30 July 2015 the Regional Assembly approved a law which put into force the Free Associations of Municipalities, regulating their functions and abolishing definitively the nine historical provinces. The same law created the new Metropolitan Cities of Palermo, Messina and Catania.[3]
Province | Inhabitants | established | current status[4] |
---|---|---|---|
Palermo | 1,250,296 | 1860 | Metropolitan City |
Catania | 1,167,006 | 1860 | Metropolitan City |
Messina | 651,921 | 1860 | Metropolitan City |
Agrigento | 453,416 | 1860 | Free Association of Municipalities |
Trapani | 436,459 | 1860 | Free Association of Municipalities |
Syracuse
|
404,271 | 1860 | Free Association of Municipalities |
Ragusa | 320,003 | 1927 | Free Association of Municipalities |
Caltanissetta | 270,102 | 1927 | Free Association of Municipalities |
Enna | 171,921 | 1927 | Free Association of Municipalities |
Municipalities
Sicily is also divided in 390 comuni (municipalities), which have even more history, having been established in the Middle Ages when they were the main places of government.
Provincial capitals
Municipality | Inhabitants | Mayor | Party | Election | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Agrigento | 58,323 | Francesco Miccichè | Independent (Centre-right coalition )
|
2020 | |
Caltanissetta | 61,711 | Roberto Gambino | Five Star Movement | 2019 | |
Catania | 293,902 | Salvo Pogliese | Brothers of Italy | 2018 | |
Enna | 27,894 | Maurizio Dipietro | Italia Viva | 2020 | |
Messina | 243,262 | Cateno De Luca | Independent (centre) | 2018 | |
Palermo | 657,651 | Roberto Lagalla | Union of the Centre | 2022 | |
Ragusa | 73,543 | Giuseppe Cassì | Independent (right-wing) | 2018 | |
Syracuse | 118,385 | Francesco Italia | Action
|
2018 | |
Trapani | 69,241 | Giacomo Tranchida | Democratic Party | 2018 |
Others with 50,000+ inhabitants
Municipality | Inhabitants | Mayor | Party | Election | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Marsala | 80,218 | Massimo Grillo | Union of the Centre | 2020 | |
Gela | 75,668 | Lucio Greco | centre-left )
|
2019 | |
Vittoria | 63,002 | Giovanni Moscato[5] | Independent (centre-right) | 2016 | |
Modica | 54,324 | Ignazio Abbate | Union of the Centre | 2018 | |
Bagheria | 54,257 | Patrizio Cinque | Five Star Movement | 2014 | |
Acireale | 51,456 | Stefano Alì | Five Star Movement | 2018 |
Parties and elections
Latest regional election
Candidates | Votes | % | Seats | Parties | Votes | % | Seats | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Renato Schifani | 887,215 | 42.05 | 7 | ||||||
Brothers of Italy | 282,345 | 15.10 | 11 | ||||||
Forza Italia | 275,736 | 14.75 | 11 | ||||||
Italy First – League | 127,454 | 6.80 | 4 | ||||||
Populars and Autonomists | 127,096 | 6.80 | 3 | ||||||
Christian Democracy | 121,691 | 6.51 | 4 | ||||||
Total | 934,322 | 49.96 | 33 | ||||||
Cateno De Luca | 505,386 | 23.95 | 1 | ||||||
South calls North | 254,453 | 13.61 | 7 | ||||||
Sicilia Vera | 50,877 | 2.72 | – | ||||||
Sicilian Pride | 18,165 | 0.97 | – | ||||||
Land of Love | 3,390 | 0.18 | – | ||||||
Young Sicilians | 3,042 | 0.16 | – | ||||||
Sicilian Autonomy | 3,042 | 0.16 | – | ||||||
Sicily Feat | 2,702 | 0.14 | – | ||||||
Work in Sicily | 1,793 | 0.10 | – | ||||||
Enough Mafias | 1,356 | 0.07 | – | ||||||
Total | 336,390 | 18.11 | 7 | ||||||
Caterina Chinnici | 341,252 | 16.17 | – | ||||||
Democratic Party | 238,761 | 12.77 | 11 | ||||||
One Hundred Steps for Sicily | 55,599 | 2.97 | – | ||||||
Total | 294,360 | 15.74 | 11 | ||||||
Nuccio di Paola | 321,142 | 15.22 | – | Five Star Movement | 254,974 | 13.64 | 11 | ||
Gaetano Armao | 43,835 | 2.08 | – | Action – Italia Viva | 39,788 | 2.13 | – | ||
Eliana Esposito | 10,973 | 0.52 | – | Free Sicilians | 7,654 | 0.41 | – | ||
Blank and invalid votes | 140,596 | 6.25 | |||||||
Total candidates | 2,250,399 | 100.00 | 8 | Total parties | 1,869,863 | 100.00 | 62 | ||
Registered voters/turnout | 4,609,984 | 48.82 | |||||||
Source: Regione Sicilia |
References
- ^ Piergiorgio Corbetta; Maria Serena Piretti, Atlante storico-elettorale d'Italia, Zanichelli, Bologna 2009
- ^ According to Google Translate
- ^ "La Sicilia approva la riforma delle province". www.ansa.it (in Italian). ansa. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
- ^ After 2015 reform.
- ^ Removed from office on 31 July 2018.