1731 Vegno Elections

1731 AN Vegno Elections

1726 AN ← 1731 AN → 1736 AN

All 150 seats to the Assemblea Nazionale 76 seats needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   Leader Orazio Torlo-Marani Luca Zarrella Tito Bettella Party NM FV PC Seats won 48 27 26 Seat change ▲35 ▲ 16 ▲ 9 Popular vote 739.806 592.190 581.736 Percentage 21,33% 17,07% 16,77% Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Antonio Visciglia Mickey Lange Levati Haldi Rinaldi Party PDC PNV VV Seats won 17 14 8 Seat change ▲ 5 ▼70 ▲1 Popular vote 456.240 445.822 261.108 Percentage 13,15% 12,85% 7,53%

Turnout: 3,468,443 (87% of entitled)

The 1731 AN Vegno Elections were the seventh ever general elections of the Republic of Vegno and saw the election of the President of the Republic of Vegno and the composition of the Parliament, the Assemblea Nazionale.

The Parliament met for the first session of the fourth legislature on early 1732 AN. Following the constitutional reform approved in 1708 by the Mancuso I Cabinet, each legislature will last five years. As the General Election of Vegno, population voted both for the President of the Republic, with the two most voted candidates accessing the final ballot a week after, and for the composition of the Parliament, which reflected the formation of the new government.

Voting system

The electoral law in force is the "Rinaldellum", which regulated elections for the first time,replacing the electoral law of 1708 AN and provides for a mixed electoral system, where:

• 66,66% of the seats (100 of 150 in the Assemblea Nazionale) are assigned through the proportional system in multi-member constituencies on the basis of blocked lists; the allocation of seats is carried out at regional levels.

• 33,33% of the seats (50 of 150 in the Assemblea Nazionale) are assigned with a single-round majority system (1 seat for the most voted party in each single circumscription.

In accordance with the Constitution, modified by the Mancuso I Cabinet 150 deputies are elected. Furthermore, the composition of the parliament and the mandate of President of the Republic will now last for five years instead of three.

The voting paper, which is a single one for the majority and the proportional systems, shows the names of the candidates to single-member constituencies and in close conjunction with them the symbols of the linked lists for the proportional part, each one with a list of the relative candidates. The voter is able to cast their vote in three different ways, among them:

• Drawing a sign on the symbol of a list. In this case, the vote extends to the candidate in the single-member constituency that is supported by that list.
• Drawing a sign on the name of the candidate of the single-member constituency and another one on the symbol of one list that supports them; the result is the same as that described above. Under penalty of annullment, the panachage is not allowed, so the voter cannot vote simultaneously for a candidate in the uninominal constituency and for a list which is not linked to them.
• Drawing a sign only on the name of the candidate for the uninominal constituency, without indicating any list. In this case, the vote is valid for the candidate in the single-member constituency and also automatically extended to the list that supports them; however, if that candidate is connected to several lists, the vote is divided proportionally between them, based on the votes that each one has obtained in that constituency.

Background

The 1731 elections in Vegno took place in an extremely turbulent and complex political context, the result of the consequences of the previous elections of 1726 and the political dynamics that followed. The outgoing President, Antonio Visciglia of the Partito Democratico Costituzionale (PDC), has been at the center of a controversial alliance with the Partito Nazionalista Vegnese (PNV), forming a government known as the "historic compromise". This agreement, although initially conceived as a strategy to stabilize the country and unite political forces against growing internal and external threats, had counterproductive effects on both parties.

The "historic compromise" united the PDC and the PNV, two historically and ideologically enemy parties, in a coalition government. This alliance was proposed by members of the two parties as an attempt to consolidate power and address the political and economic challenges of the moment. However, it was not received with the same idea among the population and this led to a significant loss of support for both parties involved.

The PNV, in particular, has suffered a serious blow to its credibility and popularity, after having been in the ascendant for several years and having participated in each of the last two governments, in opposition with the traditional liberal parties. PNV supporters perceived the alliance as a betrayal of the party's principles, causing an internal rift and a drastic decline in popular support.

Electoral campaign

One of the numerous protests by Communist Party's militants on the streets of Murgione during the 1731 election campaign.

The leaders of the various opposition parties have, from the outset, expressed their skepticism and hostility towards the government that came to power after the previous elections. The leader of the Communist Party, in particular, Tito Bettella, has harshly criticized the government's actions, severely limited by the ideological differences of the two majority parties. Throughout the previous legislature, the communists organized protests in the streets which, not infrequently, resulted in heavy repression by the police forces, fueling dissent and tensions between the government and the opposition.

The communist party, during the election campaign, strongly pushed for personal freedoms and equality, highlighting the significant differences with the PNV. The decision to form a left-wing coalition with Haldi Rinaldi's party, Vegno Vivo, was well received in the polls, with Bettella aiming to win back some of the disillusioned PDC votes through an alliance with a more moderate party. Haldi Rinaldi, for his part, seized the opportunity to criticize his old friend Visciglia, accusing him of "losing the path of progressivism and liberalism, just to maintain his seat in government," as Visciglia was the man who had held a government position longer than anyone else in the history of Vegno.

The other major opposition leader, Luca Zarrella, had maintained a more moderate stance during the legislature, initially understanding Visciglia's move to seek a government agreement to avoid political instability in the country. However, during the months leading up to the election campaign, he expressed many doubts about this government, positioning himself as the only real liberal and conservative alternative through his alliance with Luigi Pandolfi's PPV. A few days before the elections, Zarrella also announced that this would be his last election as a presidential candidate, choosing to dedicate himself to his passion for motorsport afterward.

Orazio Torlo-Marani speaks and explains his political program, interviewed by Alvise Arcuri in his TV program Linea Politica.

Orazio Torlo-Marani, on the other hand, decided to run independently, without any alliance, for the 1731 elections, once again basing his campaign on the principles of Nazarene religion and the strong centrist ideology of his party. He positioned himself as the only alternative to both traditional liberal parties and the extremists on the right and left, aiming to gather the many votes of discontented moderates and extremists disillusioned with the PNV.

The two governing parties, at the end of the legislature, had obviously decided to run independently, already certain of a noticeable decline in support. While the PDC and Visciglia could leverage the fact that, once elected president, there was no other alternative to prevent the country from collapsing into the abyss, the same could not be said for the PNV.

Mickey Lange Levati and Marco M. Unno were forced to face a wave of criticism for their alliance with the enemies of the PDC, and there were few excuses they could offer. Their election campaign was, as always, based on extreme conservatism and nationalism which, while successful in previous election polls, could not be said for this one, where protests, especially from the communists, were increasingly present and violent during the PNV's election rallies.

Electoral Lists and Candidates

	Alliance		Lists	Head of Party	Seats at last election	Coalition leader
	Centre-right coalition		Forza Vegno (FV)	Luca Zarrella	11	Luca Zarrella
			Partito Popolare Vegnese (PPV)	Luigi Pandolfi	3
	Left coalition		Vegno Vivo (VV)	Haldi Rinaldi	7	Tito Bettella
			Partito Comunista (PC)	Tito Bettella	17
	Partito Democratico Costituzionale (PDC)			Antonio Visciglia	12	-
	Partito Nazionalista Vegnese (PNV)			Mickey Lange Levati	84	-
	I Verdi - Peppe Freeda (PF)			Peppe Freeda	3	-
	Nazarene Movement (NM)			Orazio Torlo-Marani	13	-
	Partito Indipendentista Vegnese (PIV)			Lewis Newhouse	-	-
	Swnndyrrr Party (PS)			Rinne Baarrnan	-	-

Parliament Results

Overall Results

Results by party					Results by coalition
Coalition		Party		Proportional			Majority	Total seats
				Votes	%	Seats	Seats
	Centre-right coalition		Forza Vegno (FV)	592.190	17,07%	17	10	27	31
			Partito Popolare Vegnese (PPV)	137.940	3,98%	4	-	4
	Left coalition		Vegno Vivo (VV)	261.108	7,53%	8	-	8	34
			Partito Comunista (PC)	581.736	16,77%	17	9	26
	Partito Democratico Costituzionale (PDC)			456.240	13,15%	13	4	17
	Partito Nazionalista Vegnese (PNV)			445.822	12,85%	13	1	14
	I Verdi - Peppe Freeda (PF)			211.656	6,1%	6	-	6
	Nazarene Movement (NM)			739.806	21,33%	22	26	48
	Partito Indipendentista Vegnese (PIV)			32.183	0,93%	-	-	-
	Swnndyrrr Party (PS)			9.762	0,28%	-	-	-
Total				3.468.443	100%	100	50	150

Popular vote (coalition) Left   24.3% Nazarene Movement   21.33% Centre-right   21.05% PDC   13.15% PNV   12.85% I Verdi   6.1% Others   1.21%

Seat distribution (party) NM   32% FV   18% PC   17.33% PDC   11.33% PNV   9.33% VV   5.33% PF   4% PPV   2.66%

Seat distribution (coalition) Nazarene Movement   32% Left coalition   22.66% Centre-right coalition   20.66% Partito Democratico Costituzionale   11.33% Partito Nazionalista Vegnese   9.33% I Verdi - Peppe Freeda   4%

Circumscription results

Circumpscription	Centre-right coalition		Left coalition		Unlinked lists
	PPV	FV	VV	PC	PNV	PDC	NM	PF	Others
Cossa 1	4%	14%	6%	16%	12%	13%	30%	5%	-
Cossa 2	3%	15%	7%	20%	12%	13%	25%	5%	-
Cossa 3	5%	16%	6%	17%	11%	11%	27%	7%	-
Cossa 4	4%	14%	9%	21%	13%	13%	20%	6%	-
Cossa 5	4%	17%	6%	22%	11%	12%	21%	7%	-
Cossa 6	3%	15%	8%	22%	12%	10%	24%	6%	-
Cossa 7	5%	16%	7%	20%	13%	11%	22%	6%	-
Cossa 8	4%	15%	8%	18%	11%	12%	27%	5%	-
South Coast 1	4%	12%	6%	28%	11%	10%	17%	5%	7%
South Coast 2	5%	13%	7%	22%	10%	11%	19%	7%	6%
Largoprato 1	3%	13%	7%	25%	11%	12%	24%	5%	-
Largoprato 2	4%	14%	6%	23%	10%	11%	25%	7%	-
Bassovento 1	3%	15%	8%	19%	14%	11%	23%	7%	-
Bassovento 2	4%	16%	6%	22%	12%	11%	24%	5%	-
Compare	6%	15%	7%	18%	13%	12%	24%	5%	-
Mhazar-Campoasciutto 1	3%	20%	8%	14%	12%	13%	24%	6%	-
Mhazar-Campoasciutto 2	5%	21%	9%	15%	11%	13%	20%	6%	-
Mhazar-Campoasciutto 3	4%	19%	7%	17%	13%	15%	17%	8%	-
Mhazar-Campoasciutto 4	3%	22%	9%	15%	15%	11%	20%	5%	-
Mhazar-Campoasciutto 5	4%	23%	6%	13%	12%	14%	21%	7%	-
Mhazar-Campoasciutto 6	3%	21%	7%	14%	12%	13%	22%	8%	-
Mhazar-Campoasciutto 7	5%	20%	8%	16%	11%	14%	20%	6%	-
Buonriposo 1	3%	18%	7%	16%	14%	12%	25%	5%	-
Buonriposo 2	4%	15%	6%	19%	13%	11%	25%	7%	-
Buonriposo 3	5%	17%	9%	20%	12%	10%	19%	8%	-
Buonriposo 4	4%	16%	8%	15%	16%	13%	22%	6%	-
Buonriposo 5	2%	14%	9%	23%	15%	10%	22%	5%	-
Buonriposo 6	3%	17%	7%	22%	13%	12%	20%	6%	-
Caponord	4%	19%	9%	10%	14%	15%	23%	6%	-
Isole 1	6%	16%	7%	11%	14%	21%	20%	5%	-
Isole 2	4%	17%	8%	15%	15%	18%	17%	6%	-
Isole 3	3%	21%	9%	12%	13%	15%	20%	7%	-
Isole 4	2%	18%	6%	17%	12%	19%	18%	8%	-
Isole 5	4%	20%	8%	11%	14%	16%	21%	6%	-
Isole 6	5%	19%	9%	13%	13%	16%	18%	7%	-
Isole 7	4%	18%	7%	12%	12%	23%	19%	5%	-
Ponente 1	5%	18%	7%	17%	13%	10%	20%	5%	5,00%
Ponente 2	4%	16%	9%	19%	12%	11%	18%	6%	5,00%
Ponente 3	6%	14%	8%	14%	14%	12%	22%	7%	3,00%
Ponente 4	3%	19%	7%	16%	11%	13%	24%	5%	2,00%
Ponente 5	4%	15%	9%	18%	12%	14%	17%	6%	5,00%
Ponente 6	2%	17%	8%	14%	15%	10%	22%	7%	5,00%
Badia 1	6%	18%	8%	11%	13%	15%	17%	5%	7,00%
Badia 2	4%	18%	7%	15%	14%	16%	18%	6%	2,00%
Pelago 1	5%	15%	7%	16%	15%	14%	19%	6%	3,00%
Pelago 2	3%	18%	9%	12%	13%	13%	20%	8%	4,00%
Pelago 3	6%	21%	6%	11%	14%	16%	20%	5%	1,00%
Pelago 4	3%	18%	8%	12%	15%	13%	20%	7%	4,00%
Pelago 5	3%	18%	8%	12%	19%	15%	18%	6%	1,00%
Pelago 6	4%	22%	9%	10%	13%	14%	21%	5%	2,00%
Vegno	3,98%	17,07%	7,53%	16,77%	12,85%	13,15%	21,33%	6,10%	1,21%

Presidential Results

Presidential Elections

Nominee Orazio Torlo-Marani Tito Bettella Party NM PC Popular vote 1,473,4685 1,323,436 Percentage 52.69% 47.31%

President of the Republic before election Antonio Visciglia Elected President of the Republic Orazio Torlo-Marani

First Round

	Coalition	Candidate	Vote Received	% of votes
	Left coalition	Tito Bettella	842,844	24.3%
	Nazarene Movement	Orazio Torlo-Marani	739.806	21.33%
	Centre-right coalition	Luca Zarrella	730,130	21.05%
	Partito Democratico Costituzionale	Antonio Visciglia	456.240	13,15%
	Partito Nazionalista Vegnese	Mickey Lange Levati	445.822	12,85%
Other			253.601	7.31%
Total			3.468.443	100%

Second Round

	Coalition	Candidate	Vote Received	% of votes
	Nazarene Movement	Orazio Torlo-Marani	1,473,685	52,69%
	Left coalition	Tito Bettella	1,323,436	47,31%
Total			2,797,121	100%

Aftermath

The results of the elections saw a fairly clear victory for the Nazarene Movement, which in the polls was said to be growing, but not that much. The mixed proportional-majority electoral system allowed the party led by Orazio Torlo-Marani to obtain 48 seats, which represent 32% of the total in parliament. Of these 48, 26 were obtained thanks to the Rinaldellum bis, which guarantees a single-member seat to the party with the most votes in each constituency. The one who disappointed the most was the Communist Party which grew compared to the 1726 elections but not as much as its supporters hoped, obtaining only 26 seats in parliament, almost half of the Nazarene Movement. Good result for Forza Vegno which is growing a lot in the country, becoming the second most voted party in the country and obtaining 27 seats.

In the presidential elections, Orazio Torlo-Marani came out on top and was elected President of the Republic of Vegno for the first time, despite being behind the most voted Tito Bettella in the first round.

Political framework and reactions

The political picture resulting from these elections is more fragmented than ever. Orazio Torlo-Marani finds himself having to form a government without having made pre-election agreements and without having a majority in parliament. The Communists loudly cry scandal and how the current electoral law is unconstitutional. Tito Bettella, interviewed after the first results, relies on the fact that the left-wing coalition led by him is the most voted at national level and also in the individual constituencies and how it is wrong to give the single-member seat to the party and not to the coalition. Following this declaration, many communist party militants took to the streets to protest against the electoral law, generating large demonstrations that often resulted in violent clashes with the police.

The newly elected president of the republic Orazio Torlo-Marani, to calm the minds of his political rivals, promised that a new electoral law would be the subject of discussion by the future government. After the first round of consultations in parliament it became clear that the only way for the President to form a new government was to seek an agreement with the moderate forces of the centre-right coalition, while it appeared more difficult to involve the Partito Democratico Costituzionale, Vegno Vivo and I Verdi.

The agreement between Orazio Torlo-Marani, Luca Zarrella and Luigi Pandolfi took place a month after the elections, with Luca Zarrella elected as Prime Minister of Vegno and the formation of a government supported by Nazarene Movement, Forza Vegno and Partito Popolare Vegnese. The protests of the communists in parliament were vehement; they asked to form a technical government for the promulgation of a new electoral law and a return to the polls. Vegno Vivo, Partito Democratico Costituzionale and Partito Nazionalista Vegnese joined the Communist Party opposition, while I Verdi remained neutral, with the right to support the government in specific measures that interested them.

International reactions