This page gathers the results of elections in Veneto.
Veneto has always been characterised by the big role played by the Catholic Church and centrist politics, but was also an early stronghold of the Radical Party and the Italian Socialist Party. In 1919, in the first election with male universal suffrage, the Catholic-inspired Italian People's Party won 42.6% of the vote and the Italian Socialist Party 36.2%.
After World War II, Veneto was a stronghold of Christian Democracy, which was by far the largest party, successively won all the elections from 1946 to 1992 and continuously held the helm of the Regional Government from its establishment in 1970 to 1993. In 1994 the party was disbanded and its main successor, the new Italian People's Party, was much weaker.
In the 1980s Veneto saw the rise of Venetian nationalism and Liga Veneta, a regionalist party which was a founding member of Lega Nord in 1991. Liga Veneta almost replaced Christian Democracy in its heartlands, but was not initially able to gain regional power. In fact, since 1995, Christian Democracy's hegemony was replaced by that of the centre-right Pole/House of Freedoms coalition and especially Forza Italia, whose regional leader Giancarlo Galan was President of Veneto for 15 years.
After a decline in term of votes and a resurgence, in 2010 Liga Veneta gained control of the Regional Government with Luca Zaia as President and the support of The People of Freedom, a broad centre-right party resulted from the merger of Forza Italia and National Alliance. Liga Veneta and Zaia were confirmed in 2015, with a more cohesive majority.
On 22 October 2017 an autonomy referendum took place in Veneto: 57.2% of Venetians participated and 98.1% voted "yes".
Electoral history
The provincial breakdown of selected election results is shown in the tables below. Only parties above 5% are included.
1946 general election
The 1946 general election was the first after the return of democracy. Christian Democracy (DC) was by far the largest party (49.5%) and was especially strong in the provinces of Vicenza (61.1%), Padua (55.7%) and Treviso (53.5%). The Italian Socialist Party (PSI) came second (26.7%) and was stronger in the provinces of Rovigo (35.7%), Verona (33.3%) and Belluno (28.7%). The Italian Communist Party (PCI) was a distant third (13.6%), but came second in Rovigo (28.5%), where the parties of the left gained a large majority (56.5%). Rovigo, the southernmost province, was influenced by nearby "red" Emilia-Romagna.
Source: Regional Council of Veneto
1948 general election
The 1948 general election was a triumph for DC, which won a thumping 60.5% throughout Veneto. The party did better in its traditional strongholds, Vicenza (71.8%), Padua (65.4%) and Treviso (64.9%). The PSI and the PCI, united in the Popular Democratic Front (FDP), won a mere 23.9% of the vote. Apart from Rovigo, where the FDP gained 48.2%, many Socialist votes went to DC and the Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI), an outfit formed by those Socialists who opposed the alliance with the Communists. The PSDI garnered 10.1% of the vote at the regional level and was stronger in Belluno (15.9%), Treviso (12.6%) and Verona (10.1%).
Source: Regional Council of Veneto
1953 general election
In the 1953 general election DC lost some ground, however gaining a convincing 53.4% of the vote (62.2% in Vicenza, 59.9% in Treviso and 59.6% in Padua). The PSI and the PCI ran separate lists, gaining 14.6 and 14.2% of the vote. Veneto was thus one of the few regions of Italy where the Socialists were stronger than the PCI, even without counting the PSDI (5.6%). The PSI got its best results in the provinces of Venice (21.6%), Rovigo (19.8%) and Verona (18.2%), but not in the traditional Socialist stronghold of Belluno, where it was passed by the PSDI (12.3 against 11.0%). The PCI was stronger in Rovigo (28.2%) and Venice (19.7%).
Source: Regional Council of Veneto
1970 regional election
Election results were quite stable for four decades. In the 1970 regional election, the first after the establishment of Veneto as a Region, DC was by far the largest party with 51.8%. As usual, its strongholds included the provinces of Vicenza (64.2%), Padua (56.3%) and Treviso (56.0%). Up to that time the PCI had passed the PSI as second largest party: in 1970 the former garnered 16.8%, the second 10.4% and the PSDI 7.6%. Rovigo was the most left-wing province (the sum of PCI and PSI was 42.3%), followed by Venice (39.2%), and Belluno the most Socialist one (the sum of PSDI and PSI was 27.9%), followed by Treviso (20.6%).