Sicilian regional election, 2006

Sicilian regional election, 2006

May 28, 2006

All 80 seats to the Sicilian Parliament   Majority party Minority party   Leader Salvatore Cuffaro Rita Borsellino Party UDC The Olive Tree Alliance House of Freedoms The Union Last election 57 seats, 59,1% 29 seats, 36.6% Seats won 55 35 Seat change -2 +6 Popular vote 1,374,706 1,078,179 Percentage 53.1% 41.6% Swing -6,0% +5,0%

President of Sicily before election Salvatore Cuffaro House of Freedoms President of Sicily Salvatore Cuffaro House of Freedoms

The Sicilian regional election of 2006 for the renewal of the Regional Assembly and the Presidency of Sicily was held on 28 May 2006.

The election was competed by three competitors: Salvatore Cuffaro, incumbent President and House of Freedoms candidate; Rita Borsellino, candidate of The Union; and Nello Musumeci, MEP elected for the National Alliance and now leader of the autonomist movement Sicilian Alliance. In the end, Cuffaro won the election, despite a heavy loss of support compared with five years before, when he was elected with 59.1% of votes.

Candidates

Salvatore Cuffaro, 48, was first elected at the Sicilian Presidency in the July 2001 with 59.1% of regional votes; that election was held immediately after the national election which saw the centre-right win all the 61 Sicilian ridings. Cuffaro is a prominent member of Union of Christian and Centre Democrats, a Christian democratic party. Often associated to the mafia by his critics because of an open investigation by the magistrature of Palermo which brought to a trial commitment, Cuffaro will nevertheless head the regional UDC list of candidates for the April general election.

Rita Borsellino, 61, sister of the late judge Paolo assassinated by the mafia, gained the centre-left candidacy after having won a primary election with over 67% of votes. She is not member of any party. If elected, she would be the first female president ever in Sicily.

Nello Musumeci, 51, is a former member of the right-wing National Alliance party; he served as President of the Province of Catania from 1994 to 2003. He left National Alliance on September 2005 in order to found a new autonomist party, Sicilian Alliance, of which he is the leader. Despite his past political experiences, Musumeci is highly unlikely to have some actual possibility to win the election.

Pollster claimed this election to be much closer than five years ago, and majority of surveys even put Borsellino to lead over Cuffaro. However, Sicily confirmed one more time in the April 2006 national election, in which the House of Freedoms obtained 57% of regional votes, to be still a centre-right stronghold. The election was in fact characterized by separate contemporary votes for centre-right parties and Rita Borsellino as president, as the sum of centre-right coalition parties obtained over 60% of votes. In any case, the disjoint vote was not sufficient to ensure Borsellino to win the election, and Cuffaro was confirmed president of Sicily.

Results

Source: Sicilian Region

Sources

• The Independent (2006-05-30). "Sicily elects governor linked with Mafia". London. Retrieved 2006-05-30. 
• BBC (2006-05-30). "Prodi wins key cities in election". BBC News. Retrieved 2006-05-30. 

External links

Candidates

• (Italian) Salvatore "Totò" Cuffaro
• (Italian) Rita Borsellino
• (Italian) Sebastiano "Nello" Musumeci

Elections in Sicily
Regional elections:	1947 1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1976 1981 1986 1991 1996 2001 2006 2008 2012
General elections:	1946 1948 1953 1958 1963 1968 1972 1976 1979 1983 1987 1992 1994 1996 2001 2006 2008 2013
European Parliament elections:	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014