# 2018 Friuli-Venezia Giulia regional election

The 2018 Friuli-Venezia Giulia regional election took place on 29 April 2018, to elect the President and the Regional council of the Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
The election saw a large victory of the centre-right candidate, Massimiliano Fedriga, with more than 57% of votes and a great showing of the League, followed by the centre-left candidate Sergio Bolzonello, who arrived second with almost 27% of votes, and the Five Star one, who gained less than 12% of votes.

## Background

In the 2013 regional election, the centre-left candidate, Debora Serracchiani, a Socialist MEP and regional leader of the Democratic Party (PD), narrowly defeated incumbent Renzo Tondo of The People of Freedom (PdL) 39.39% to 39.00%; Saverio Galluccio of the Five Star Movement (M5S) came third with 19.2% of the vote. Serracchiani was the second woman to hold the office of President of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, after Alessandra Guerra of the Northern League in 1994–1995.
However in 2017 Serracchiani announced her intention not to seek a re-election and the centre-left selected Sergio Bolzonello, former mayor of Pordenone, as the candidate for the presidency. The centre-right coalition choose Massimiliano Fedriga, a member of the Chamber of Deputies for the League and a close ally of Matteo Salvini, as its candidate; while the Five Star Movement's candidate was Alessandro Fraleoni Morgera, a former member of the right-wing party, National Alliance. The former mayor of Udine, Sergio Cecotti, run as an independent at the head of an autonomist list.

## Parties and candidates

| Political party or alliance | Political party or alliance | Constituent lists | Constituent lists | Previous result | Previous result | Candidate | Candidate |
| Political party or alliance | Political party or alliance | Constituent lists | Constituent lists | Votes (%) | Seats | Candidate | Candidate |
| | Centre-right coalition | | League (Lega) | 8.3 | 3 | Massimiliano Fedriga |
| | Centre-right coalition | | Forza Italia (FI) | 20.1 | 8 | Massimiliano Fedriga |
| | Centre-right coalition | | Brothers of Italy (FdI) (incl. PdF) | — | — | Massimiliano Fedriga |
| | Centre-right coalition | | FVG Project | — | — | Massimiliano Fedriga |
| | Centre-right coalition | | Responsible Autonomy (AR) | 10.7 | 4 | Massimiliano Fedriga |
| | Centre-left coalition | | Democratic Party (PD) | 26.8 | 19 | Sergio Bolzonello |
| | Centre-left coalition | | Citizens for Bolzonello President | 5.3 | 3 | Sergio Bolzonello |
| | Centre-left coalition | | Open – Left FVG | — | — | Sergio Bolzonello |
| | Centre-left coalition | | Slovene Union (SSk) | 1.5 | 1 | Sergio Bolzonello |
| | Five Star Movement (M5S) | Five Star Movement (M5S) | Five Star Movement (M5S) | 13.8 | 5 | Alessandro Fraleoni Morgera |
| | Pact for Autonomy (PpA) | Pact for Autonomy (PpA) | Pact for Autonomy (PpA) | — | — | Sergio Cecotti |

## Opinion polling

This section reports in chronological order the data of the electoral surveys related to this election. The percentages attributed to the candidates are relative to the part of the sample that expresses a voting intention.
| Date | Polling firm | Fedriga | Bolzonello | Fraleoni Morgera | Cecotti | Undecided | Lead |
| 14 April 2018 | SWG | 47–51 | 26–30 | 18–22 | 2–4 | 21 | 25–17 |
| 8 April 2018 | Demopolis | 45–51 | 22–28 | 21–27 | 1–5 | 20 | 29–17 |

## Results

29 April 2018 Friuli-Venezia Giulia regional election results :
| Candidates | Candidates | Votes | % | Seats | Parties | Parties | Votes | % | Seats |
| | Massimiliano Fedriga | 307,123 | 57.09 | 1 |
| | Massimiliano Fedriga | 307,123 | 57.09 | 1 | | League | 147,464 | 34.87 | 17 |
| | Massimiliano Fedriga | 307,123 | 57.09 | 1 | | Forza Italia | 51,234 | 12.11 | 5 |
| | Massimiliano Fedriga | 307,123 | 57.09 | 1 | | FVG Project | 26,596 | 6.29 | 3 |
| | Massimiliano Fedriga | 307,123 | 57.09 | 1 | | Brothers of Italy | 23,128 | 5.47 | 2 |
| | Massimiliano Fedriga | 307,123 | 57.09 | 1 | | Responsible Autonomy | 16,802 | 3.97 | 1 |
| | Massimiliano Fedriga | 307,123 | 57.09 | 1 | Total | Total | 265,224 | 62.71 | 28 |
| | Sergio Bolzonello | 144,363 | 26.84 | 1 |
| | Sergio Bolzonello | 144,363 | 26.84 | 1 | | Democratic Party | 76,579 | 18.11 | 9 |
| | Sergio Bolzonello | 144,363 | 26.84 | 1 | | Citizens for Bolzonello President | 17,297 | 4.09 | 2 |
| | Sergio Bolzonello | 144,363 | 26.84 | 1 | | Open – Left FVG | 11,715 | 2.77 | 1 |
| | Sergio Bolzonello | 144,363 | 26.84 | 1 | | Slovene Union | 4,895 | 1.16 | 1 |
| | Sergio Bolzonello | 144,363 | 26.84 | 1 | Total | Total | 110,486 | 26.12 | 13 |
| | Alessandro Fraleoni Morgera | 62,776 | 11.67 | – | | Five Star Movement | 29,862 | 7.06 | 4 |
| | Sergio Cecotti | 23,696 | 4.40 | – | | Pact for Autonomy | 17,350 | 4.10 | 2 |
| Total candidates | Total candidates | 537,958 | 100.00 | 2 | Total parties | Total parties | 422,922 | 100.00 | 47 |
| Source: Region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. ||||||||||
Popular vote
Lega
34.87%
PD
18.11%
FI
12.11%
M5S
7.06%
PFVG
6.29%
FdI
5.47%
PpA
4.10%
CBP
4.09%
AR
3.97%
O–SFVG
2.77%
SSk
1.16% :
President
Fedriga
57.09%
Bolzonello
26.84%
Fraleoni Morgera
11.67%
Cecotti
4.40% :

## Analysis

Similar to the election in Molise, the M5S lost almost 20% of votes compared to the general election. On March 4, they reached almost 25%, but now just over 7%. By contrast, the centre-right coalition gained more than 20% compared to March 4.