2005 Apulian regional election

The Apulian regional election of 2005 took place on 3–4 April 2005.

Nichi Vendola (Communist Refoundation Party) defeated incumbent Raffaele Fitto (Forza Italia). The success of Vendola came somewhat unexpected. In a Southern Italian Region, expected to be morally conservative, Vendola, a communist and homosexual, defeated Fitto, a conservative Christian democrat. Vendola was the first candidate ever to be appointed by its coalition through a primary election instead of agreements between parties. A defeat of Vendola might have resulted in a cancellation of the primary election of The Union for choosing the candidate for Prime Minister in the 2006 general election.

Centre-left primary election

The centre-left candidate was chosen through primary elections, which were won by surprise by Nichi Vendola.

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
bgcolor="Template:Party color" |	Nichi Vendola	PRC	40,358	50.9
bgcolor="Template:Party color" |	Francesco Boccia	DL	38,676	49.1
Total			79,034	100.0

Results

3–4 April 2005 Apulian regional election results

File:Apulia Regional Council 2005.svg
Candidates		Votes	%	Seats	Parties		Votes	%	Seats
rowspan=14 bgcolor="Template:Party color"|	Nichi Vendola	1,165,536	49.84	1
bgcolor="Template:Party color" |					Democrats of the Left	356,369	16.63	14
bgcolor="Template:Party color" |					Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy	208,806	9.74	8
bgcolor="Template:Party color" |					Communist Refoundation Party	109,146	5.09	4
bgcolor="Template:Party color" |					Italian Democratic Socialists	86,096	4.01	3
bgcolor="Template:Party color" |					Union of Democrats for Europe	70,293	3.28	3
					The Apulian Spring	55,335	2.58	3
bgcolor="Template:Party color" |					Party of Italian Communists	48,141	2.24	2
bgcolor="Template:Party color" |					Autonomist Socialists – PSDI – MRE	47,511	2.22	2
bgcolor="Template:Party color" |					Italy of Values	38,120	1.78	1
bgcolor="Template:Party color" |					Federation of the Greens	33,309	1.55	1
					United Democratic Christians	8,397	0.39	–
bgcolor="Template:Party color" |					Pensioners' Party	3,959	0.18	–
Total					1,065,752	49.69	41
rowspan=8 bgcolor="Template:Party color"|	Raffaele Fitto	1,151,405	49.24	1
bgcolor="Template:Party color" |					Forza Italia	381,663	17.80	10
bgcolor="Template:Party color" |					National Alliance	259,563	12.10	7
					Apulia First of All	196,281	9.15	5
bgcolor="Template:Party color" |					Union of Christian and Centre Democrats	167,038	7.79	4
bgcolor="Template:Party color" |					New PSI – PRI	48,109	2.24	1
					Social Idea Movement	10,099	0.47	–
Total					1.062.753	49.55	27
bgcolor="Template:Party color"|	Gianfelice Galassi	10,973	0.47	–	bgcolor="Template:Party color"|	Social Alternative	9,368	0.44	–
	Luca Scalabrini	10,477	0.45	–		Christian Democracy	6,791	0.32	–
Total candidates		2,338,391	100.00	2	Total parties		2,144,664	100.00	68
Source: Ministry of the Interior – Historical Archive of Elections