The 2023 Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol provincial elections took place on 22 October 2023. It were the latest 2023 Italian regional elections and determined two seats out of 21 in the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces.
Background
Since the 2018 Italian general election, many changes started to occur in the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol political landscape. For the first time since the 1996 Italian general election, the centre-right coalition managed to defeat the centre-left coalition in Trentino in a general election. Shortly thereafter, the Trentino Tyrolean Autonomist Party (PATT) decided to run separately (German: Blockfrei), leading to the first victory of the Maurizio Fugatti-led centre-right coalition in a provincial election in Trentino since the start of the Second Italian Republic with the 1994 Italian general election.
In South Tyrol, the traditionally dominant-party system led by the South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP) lost its majority in the 2013 Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol provincial elections. In the 2018 general election, the SVP and the Democratic Party of the centre-left coalition lost their majority, forcing SVP to form a coalition with Lega due to the system (Italian: proporzionale etnica). In the 2019 European Parliament election in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, the SVP broke their traditional alliance with the PD and joined forces with the centre-right Forza Italia. Similarly in the 2022 general election SVP and PATT decided to run separated from the centre-left and joined forced with some centre-right autonomist parties like Trentino Project.
After Brothers of Italy became largest party in Trentino in the 2022 general election, FdI proposed Francesca Gerosa as the new centre-right candidate. This led to a conflict with PATT, which joined the centre-right coalition in an election for the first time since 2001, which strongly spoke against her.
Trentino
In Trentino, the president is elected directly by the people; the candidate who gains the most votes is elected president.