# 2006 Italian Senate election in Lombardy

Lombardy renewed its delegation to the Italian Senate on April 9, 2006. This election was a part of national Italian general election of 2006 even if, according to the Italian Constitution, every senatorial challenge in each Region is a single and independent race.
Differently from the national result, the election was won by the centre-right coalition of the House of Freedoms. Forza Italia was the largest party in the election with 28%, ahead of the Democrats of the Left (12%) and Lega Nord (11%). Eleven provinces gave a majority or a plurality to Silvio Berlusconi's alliance, while voters of the Province of Mantua supported the new Prime Minister of Italy Romano Prodi.

## Background

Silvio Berlusconi's House of Freedoms arrived to this election after a series of bad results. Forza Italia had lost 5 points at regional level during the 2004 European election, while the Province of Milan shifted to the left in the same occasion. 2005 regional election had confirmed centre-right Regional President Roberto Formigoni, but its coalition lost more than 8 points.
On the other side, in 2005 Romano Prodi had launched his new larger coalition, The Union, merging in a single alliance quite all oppositions to Berlusconi's majority: The Olive Tree, the Communist Refoundation Party and Antonio Di Pietro's Italy of Values, which in Lombardy were joined by the Lombard Autonomy League.

## Electoral law

The new electoral law for the Senate was established in 2005 by the Calderoli Law, and it is a form of semi-proportional representation. A party presents its own closed list and it can join other parties in alliances. The coalition which receives a plurality automatically wins at least 26 seats. Respecting this condition, seats are divided between coalitions, and subsequently to party lists, using the largest remainder method with a Hare quota. To receive seats, a party must overcome the barrage of 8% of the vote if it contests a single race, or of 3% of the vote if it runs in alliance.

## Results

| Coalition leader | votes | votes (%) | seats | Party | votes | votes (%) | seats | change |
| Silvio Berlusconi | 3,342,468 | 57.0 | 27 | Forza Italia | 1,623,745 | 27.7 | 14 | -1 |
| Silvio Berlusconi | 3,342,468 | 57.0 | 27 | Lega Nord | 652,047 | 11.1 | 5 | -4 |
| Silvio Berlusconi | 3,342,468 | 57.0 | 27 | National Alliance | 572,242 | 9.8 | 5 | -2 |
| Silvio Berlusconi | 3,342,468 | 57.0 | 27 | Union of Christian and Centre Democrats | 343,269 | 5.9 | 3 | +2 |
| Silvio Berlusconi | 3,342,468 | 57.0 | 27 | Others | 151,165 | 2.5 | - | -1 |
| Romano Prodi | 2,501,467 | 42.6 | 20 | Democrats of the Left | 726,105 | 12.4 | 7 | +3 |
| Romano Prodi | 2,501,467 | 42.6 | 20 | Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy | 588,856 | 10.0 | 6 | +2 |
| Romano Prodi | 2,501,467 | 42.6 | 20 | Communist Refoundation Party | 407,939 | 7.0 | 4 | +3 |
| Romano Prodi | 2,501,467 | 42.6 | 20 | Together with the Union | 588,856 | 4.8 | 3 | = |
| Romano Prodi | 2,501,467 | 42.6 | 20 | Italy of Values | 150,116 | 2.6 | - | -1 |
| Romano Prodi | 2,501,467 | 42.6 | 20 | Rose in the Fist | 128,849 | 2.2 | - | - |
| Romano Prodi | 2,501,467 | 42.6 | 20 | Others | 220,050 | 3.8 | - | -1 |
| Others | 25,193 | 0.4 | - | Others | 25,193 | 0.4 | - | - |
| Total coalitions | 5,869,128 | 100.0 | 47 | Total parties | 5,869,128 | 100.0 | 47 | = |
Source: Ministry of the Interior

## Lombard delegation to Senate
### Forza Italia

* Roberto Formigoni
** Obliged to resign on July 12. Substituted by Antonio Del Pennino.
* Guido Possa
* Ombretta Colli
* Gianfranco Rotondi
* Gianpiero Carlo Cantoni
* Marcello Dell'Utri
* Antonio Tomassini
* Nitto Francesco Palma
* Luigi Scotti
* Romano Comincioli
* Luigi Grillo
* Enrico Pianetta
* Valerio Carrara
* Egidio Sterpa

### Democrats of the Left

* Gerardo D'Ambrosio
* Fiorenza Bassoli
* Furio Colombo
* Carlo Fontana
* Paolo Bodini
* Guido Galardi
* Giorgio Roilo

### The Daisy

* Paolo Binetti
* Valerio Zanone
* Emanuela Baio
* Franco Danieli
* Daniele Bosone
* Paolo Rossi

### Lega Nord

* Roberto Castelli
* Giuseppe Leoni
* Ettore Pietro Pirovano
* Dario Galli
* Dario Fruscio

### National Alliance

* Alfredo Mantica
* Alessio Butti
* Giuseppe Valditara
* Stefano Losurdo
* Antonino Caruso

### Communist Refoundation Party

* Maria Luisa Boccia
* Giovanna Capelli
* Giovanni Confalonieri
* Josè Luiz Del Roio

### Union of Christian and Centre Democrats

* Rocco Buttiglione
* Graziano Maffioli
* Luigi Maninetti

### Together with the Union

* Natale Ripamonti
* Maria Agostina Pellagatta
* Gianpaolo Silvestri
Source: Italian Senate