On October 22nd polling stations open from 6am to 10pm in the Autonomous Province of Trento for the renewal of the Provincial Council and President. Instead, voting takes place from 7am to 9pm in the autonomous province of Bolzano to renew only the provincial council. The Regional Council is made up of the sum of those of the two provinces: this assembly will then elect the President of the Region
Regional elections will take place in Trentino Alto-Adige on 22 October. This is a particular round, because in practice we will vote in the Autonomous Province of Trento for the renewal of the Provincial Council and the provincial president, while in the Autonomous Province of Bolzano we will vote to renew only the Provincial Council. In fact, here the president is not elected by the citizens. The Regional Council, which is the sum of the Councils of the two provinces, then elects the President of the Region.
When voting in the Province of Trento
The people of Trentino must choose the successor of Maurizio Fugatti (who has also run again in this round and is aiming for re-election). Voting will take place only on Sunday 22nd October as soon as the preliminary operations are completed (establishing the polling station and stamping the ballots) which begin at 6am. The polling stations will therefore remain open from 6am until 10pm. The counting operations will begin at 7am Monday 23 October. To vote you must go to the polling station indicated on your card.
How to vote in the Province of Trento
To vote, you must show a valid identity document and voter card at the polling station. If you have lost your electoral card or no longer have space for the stamp, you must go to the electoral offices of your municipality of residence (they are also open on Sunday 22 October) and ask for a copy. At the polling station you will receive a single card where the names of the presidential candidates will be printed and, alongside, the symbols of the lists that support them, with space to express up to two preferences for the councilor candidate(s). Pay attention to preferences for councilor candidates: you can decide not to express any, one or two. If you choose to indicate two preferences, it is important to respect gender alternation: a man and a woman or a woman and a man. If two women or two men vote, the second preference is cancelled, while the first preference remains valid as does the vote for the list and the vote for the president. It is forbidden to bring cell phones or devices capable of photographing or reproducing images into the voting booth.
There is no split vote
It will be possible to vote for a presidential candidate and one of the lists linked to him, i.e. which are part of his coalition. In the event that the voter presents his vote only to the list, this will be valid as a vote in favor of the presidential candidate supported by the chosen list. However, “disjointed” votes, i.e. for a presidential candidate and at the same time for a list that does not support him, will not be considered valid.
Who can vote
There are approximately 443 thousand people entitled to vote. Voters who are registered on the electoral lists and who, on the date of publication of the notice convening the electoral rallies (7 September 2023), have resided in the territory of the province of Trento continuously for at least one year or are in one of the conditions prescribed by the Article 25 of the Special Statute.
When voting in the Province of Bolzano
For the renewal of the Provincial Council of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano-Alto Adige, voting will take place on Sunday 22 October 2023, from 7 am to 9 pm. Citizens who have reached the age of 18 on this date and are registered in the electoral lists, on the date of publication of the notice convening the electoral rallies, have been resident in the territory of the Trentino-Alto Adige region for an uninterrupted period of four years and in the four-year period have completed the longest period of residence in the territory of the province of Bolzano.
How to vote in the Province of Bolzano
Citizens must present themselves at the electoral section indicated on their electoral card, equipped with the card itself and an identification document. Anyone who is not in possession of the electoral card, because they have never received it or in case of deterioration, loss or theft of the same, must contact the municipal electoral offices, which will remain open on 20 October and 21 October from 9 am to 18 and on 22 October for the entire duration of the voting. Depending on the case, the electoral offices will issue the card, a duplicate or a replacement certificate. In 2013, postal voting was introduced at the provincial level for two distinct categories of voters: South Tyroleans residing abroad, registered in the AIRE (personal register of Italian citizens residing abroad) and for female electors and voters prevented from exercising the vote at the Municipality of residence, as they temporarily live outside the province.
How to fill out the form
The symbols (also called marks) of all the lists are reproduced on the card that is delivered to each voter. The vote is expressed by crossing the symbol of the chosen list. The citizen can also indicate, in the lines to the right of each symbol, from one to four preferences (only one preference per line). The preferential vote is exercised in the following way: by writing the surname of the candidates, if necessary also the name of the candidates. If the candidate has two surnames it is possible to write only one, however the indication must contain both surnames, and, if necessary, date and place of birth, when there is the possibility of confusion between multiple candidates. Starting from the 2018 provincial elections, it is no longer possible to indicate the numbers with which the candidates are marked in the list to express the preference vote. It is essential that the preferences, in order to be valid, refer exclusively to the candidates on the voted list.
Allocation of seats in the Province of Bolzano
As mentioned, in this province only the council must be elected. The electoral system for choosing the 35 members is pure proportional without majority bonuses or thresholds. There are no coalition agreements and each list must run alone. The election of the president of the provincial government is then delegated to the Council from among its members. The mechanism protects the Ladin-speaking representation. In no list of candidates can one gender (man/woman) be represented in excess of 2/3 of the total candidates indicated in the list. To assign the number of councilors to each list, the total of valid votes reported by all the lists is divided by the number of councilors, with the addition of two, thus obtaining the electoral quotient. When carrying out the division, any fractional part is rounded up to the higher unit. Each list is allocated as many seats as the electoral quotient is contained in the electoral figure (i.e. the sum of valid votes) of the list itself. If, with the electoral quotient calculated as above, the total number of seats to be allocated to the various lists exceeds the expected number of provincial councillors, the operations are repeated with a new electoral quotient obtained by decreasing the divisor by one unit. If, after the first distribution, there are unallocated seats, the Central Electoral Office chooses, among the figures of the residual votes of all the lists, the highest ones, in a number equal to the seats left to be allocated (residual seats) and assigns a further seat on each of the lists to which these residual vote figures belong. In the event of an equal number of remaining votes, the seat is allocated to the list with the highest electoral figure and, in the event of a further tie, by drawing lots. The lists that have not reached the full electoral quotient also participate in these operations.
Source-tg24.sky.it