After the traditional 24-hour electoral silence, polling stations in Basilicata for the renewal of the Regional Council and the election of the President will open on Sunday morning at 7:30. Voting will continue until 10 pm and then polling stations will reopen on Monday at 7 am and close at 3 pm. Immediately after, the vote counting operations will begin, and the new President should be known by the evening. The number of voters is not high, at 576,000, and neither are the Presidential candidates.
The outgoing President of the Basilicata Region, Vito Bardi, is the candidate for the center-right and the third pole. It will be a three-way challenge. Vito Bardi, representing the center-right, will try to secure a second term, supported by the entire center-right coalition, which, unlike five years ago, now includes center forces that have chosen to back him (such as Italia Viva, Azione, and the support of Marcello Pittella, a former President of the Region from 2013 to 2019 for the center-left, who resigned due to his involvement in a local healthcare scandal). The lists supporting him include Forza Italia, FdI, Lega, Udc-Dc with Rotondi-Popolari Uniti, Orgoglio Lucano, and La Vera Basilicata.
The search for the center-left candidate has been turbulent. Several names were proposed and then rejected due to a dozen cross-vetoes, and ultimately, Marcello Pittella decided to switch to the right after the center-left did not endorse his candidacy for leadership. The agreement was reached on the President of the Matera province, Piero Marrese, who is supported by Pd, M5s, Avs-Si-Psi, Basilicata Possibile, Basilicata Casa Comune, and Basilicata Unita. The third candidate, Eustachio Follia, will mainly be supported by the pan-European party Volt.
The electoral law in Basilicata dictates that there is a single-round vote, and the President is the candidate who receives the majority (even relative) of the votes. There is no split vote, so you can either vote for one of the lists presented, which will automatically count as a vote for the linked Presidential candidate, or you can vote solely for a Presidential candidate without choosing a list. Two preferences can be given, following the gender preference rule. The lists connected to the elected president may receive a majority bonus, ranging from 11 to 14 seats, based on the percentage of preferences received by the President. There is also an 8% threshold for coalitions and a 3% threshold for non-coalition lists.
The Basilicata Region is divided into two electoral districts, Potenza and Matera, which together form the regional college for the allocation of votes to candidates. The number of seats allocated to each district remains the same, with 13 seats for Potenza and 7 for Matera. The Regional Council consists of 20 councilors, in addition to the elected President, who will lead the region. The election process is set to conclude with the announcement of the new President following the vote counting and allocation of seats based on the electoral outcomes in the two districts.
