Who will lead the Tuscan region over the
next five years? Some 3.5 million Tuscans in 287 municipalities are expected to
head to the polls on March 28 and 29 to vote for the new president of Tuscany.
Nine political parties have candidates
for 55 spots on the regional council and support five presidential candidates:
Alfonso De Virgiliis (Bonino-Panella ticket for the left-wing party, the
Radicals); Francesco Bosi (for the centrist Union of Christian Democrats);
Monica Faenzi is the centre-right coalition’s candidate (People of Freedom,
PDL, and its allied party, the Northern League); Ilario Palmisani (Forza
Nuova); and Enrico Rossi is the main candidate for the left wing coalition
(Democratic Party and the allied parties Partito Socialista Italiano, Italy of
Values, Federazione della Sinistra and Sinistra Ecologica e Libertà). (For
detailed info on candidates and their platforms, see feature article ‘Meet the
candidates’ in TF 118.)
Although Tuscan residents will also be
choosing provincial and municipal councillors, some parties do not have representatives
in every province. For example, Forza Nuova has no provincial candidates in Siena, Livorno, Prato and Pisa, and the Radicals have provincial candidates only in Pistoia, Arezzo, Florence, Massa-Carrara, Pisa
and Siena. The
other seven parties have candidates running in all of Tuscany’s 10 provinces.
More than 3,900 polling stations will be
set up throughout the region. Voters can cast their ballots from 8am to 10pm on
March 28 and 7am to 3pm on March 29.
For more information, see www.regione.toscana.it (in
Italian).
