Politics of Apulia

The politics of Apulia, a region of Italy, takes place in the framework of a semi-presidential representative democracy, whereby the President of the Region is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Legislative power is vested in the Regional Council of Apulia, while executive power is exercised by the Regional Government led by the President, who is directly elected by the people. The current Statute, which regulates the functioning of the regional institutions, has been in force since 2004.

Prior to the rise of Fascism, most of the deputies elected in Apulia were part of the liberal establishment (see Historical Right, Historical Left and Liberals), which governed Italy for decades. At the 1924 general election, which opened the way to the Fascist authoritarian rule, Apulia was one of the regions where the National Fascist Party (PNF) obtained more than 50% of the vote.^[1]

After World War II, Apulia became a stronghold of the Christian Democracy (DC), which was especially strong in rural areas. The region is now considered a stronghold of the "centre-left coalition" led by the Democratic Party (PD), having been governed by such alliance since 2005.

Between 2005 and 2015 the region was headed by Nichi Vendola, the first openly LGBT heads of a regional government in Italy.

Executive branch

The Regional Government (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 10 members: the President and 9 regional ministers or assessors (Assessori), including a Vice President (Vice Presidente).^[2]

List of presidents

Main article: List of presidents of Apulia

The current President of Apulia is Michele Emiliano, who is serving his second term after winning the 2020 regional election.

Presidents elected by the Regional Council (1970–1995)

N.	Name	Term of office		Political party	Legislature
1	Gennaro Trisorio Liuzzi	8 June 1970	16 June 1975	DC	I (1970)
2	Nicola Rotolo	16 June 1975	23 December 1978	DC	II (1975)
3	Nicola Quarta	23 December 1978	9 June 1980	DC
		9 June 1980	4 July 1983		III (1980)
4	Angelo Monfredi	4 July 1983	23 September 1983	DC
(1)	Gennaro Trisorio Liuzzi	23 September 1983	13 May 1985	DC
5	Salvatore Fitto	13 May 1985	29 August 1988[3]	DC	IV (1985)
6	Franco Borgia	29 August 1988	23 November 1988	PSI
7	Giuseppe Colasanto	23 November 1988	6 May 1990	DC
8	Michele Bellomo	6 May 1990	23 October 1992	DC	V (1990)
9	Cosimo Convertino	23 October 1992	4 December 1992	PSI
10	Giovanni Copertino	4 December 1992	3 September 1993	DC
11	Vito Savino	3 September 1993	1 March 1994	DC
12	Giuseppe Martellotta	1 March 1994	27 June 1995	PPI

Directly-elected presidents (since 1995)

N.	Portrait	President	Term of office		Tenure (Years and days)	Party		Composition	Legislature
13		Salvatore Distaso (1937–2008)	27 June 1995	19 May 2000	4 years, 327 days		FI	FI–AN–CDC	VI (1995)
14		Raffaele Fitto (b. 1969)	19 May 2000	27 April 2005	4 years, 343 days		FI	FI–AN–CDC–CDU	VII (2000)
15		Nichi Vendola (b. 1958)	27 April 2005	26 April 2010	10 years, 60 days		PRC / SEL	DS–DL–PRC–SDI– UDEUR–PdCI−IdV–FdV	VIII (2005)
			26 April 2010	26 June 2015				PD–SEL–IdV	IX (2010)
16		Michele Emiliano (b. 1959)	26 June 2015	24 November 2020	10 years, 192 days		PD	PD–SEL–IdV–SC–UdC	X (2015)
			24 November 2020	Incumbent				PD–CE–PcE–M5S[4]	XI (2020)
17		Antonio Decaro (b. 1970)	Elected				PD	PD–M5S	XII (2025)

Legislative branch

The Regional Council of Apulia (Consiglio Regionale della Puglia) is composed of 51 members, 50 councillors and the President. 23 councillors are elected in provincial constituencies by proportional representation using the largest remainder method with a Droop quota and open lists, while 27 councillors (elected in a general ticket) come from a "regional list", including the President-elect. One seat is reserved for the candidate who comes second.

The Council 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 1999 (literally they will stand together or they will fall together), also the Council is dissolved and a snap election is called.^[5]

Local government

Provinces

Apulia is divided into five provinces and one metropolitan city.

After the 2014 reform of local authorities the Province of Bari was replaced by the new Metropolitan City of Bari. Since 2014 the president of the province is no more elected directly by citizens, but is chosen by mayors and councilors of the municipalities of the province.

Province / Metropolitan City	Inhabitants	President		Party	Election
Metropolitan City of Bari	1,261,954		Antonio Decaro (metropolitan mayor)	Democratic Party	2019
Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani	384,293		Bernardo Lodispoto	Independent (Democratic Party)	2023
Province of Brindisi	401,652		Toni Matarelli	Independent (Democratic Party)	2022
Province of Foggia	627,102		Giuseppe Nobiletti	Independent (Democratic Party)	2023
Province of Lecce	802,807		Stefano Minerva	Democratic Party	2022
Province of Taranto	581,092		Rinaldo Melucci	Democratic Party	2022

Parties and elections

Latest regional election

Main article: 2025 Apulian regional election

In the latest regional election, which took place on 23–24 November 2025, Antonio Decaro of the Democratic Party was elected President by a landslide 64.0% of the vote.

23–24 November 2025 Apulian regional election results

Candidates		Votes	%	Seats	Parties		Votes	%	Seats
	Antonio Decaro	919,753	63.98	1
						Democratic Party	344,229	25.91	14
						Decaro for President	168,944	12.72	7
						For Apulia	113,515	8.54	4
						Five Star Movement	95,963	7.22	4
						Greens and Left Alliance	54,358	4.09	0
						Forward Populars with Decaro	54,306	4.09	0
					Total		831.315	62.57	29
	Luigi Lobuono	505,146	35.14	1
						Brothers of Italy	248,905	18.73	11
						Forza Italia	121,014	9.11	5
						League	106,852	8.04	4
						Us Moderates	10,997	0.83	0
						Apulia With Us	1,127	0.08	0
					Total		488,895	36.80	20
	Ada Donno	10,070	0.70	0		Pacifist and Popular Apulia	6,734	0.51	0
	Sabino Mangano	2,642	0.18	0		Civic Alliance for Apulia	1,683	0.13	0
Blank and invalid votes		37,826	2.56
Total candidates		1,437,611	100.0	2	Total parties		1,328,628	100.0	49
Registered voters/turnout		1,475,437	41.83
Source: Apulia Region – Results

References

External links

• Apulia Region
• Regional Council of Apulia
• Constitution of Apulia