Roberto Occhiuto, president of the Calabria Region, communicated the decision to resign from the head of the regional executive.
What happens now?
If the resignation of the governor Roberto Occhiuto are formalized, Calabria will return to the vote in a few weeks. Probably together – or almost in conjunction – with the other regions called to vote in this autumn electoral window.
On the other hand, Article 33 of the Calabrian Statute is clear: we return to the polls in the event of voluntary resignation of the President of the Regional Council. The regional statute does not specify a term, therefore reference is made to the general principles contained in the state law 165/2004 which contains the implementation provisions of article 122 of the Constitution. In article 5, it is expected that “the elections of the new councils take place no later than sixty days following the end of the five -year period or on Sundays included in the six further days”.
The procedure for calling the elections in Calabria provides that the decree of the election of the election is trunk by the President of the Council after hearing the President of the Regional Council and in agreement with that of the Court of Appeal of Catanzaro. In any case, the President of the Regional Council will have 10 days from receipt of the formal communication of the governor’s resignation to convene the meeting of the legislative assembly in which everyone can take the floor. Once the advice is dismissed, the electoral machine will be set in motion.
The process
The Italian Constitution in art. 126 reads in paragraph 3: “The approval of the motion of no confidence against the president of the junta elected to universal and direct suffrage, as well as the removal, the permanent impediment, the death or the voluntary resignation of the same involve the resignation of the Council and the dissolution of the Council. In any case, the same effects follow the contextual resignation of the majority of the Council”.
The constitutional dictate was taken up by the Statute of the Calabria Region in art. 33 relating to the president of the regional council.
The presentation of the resignation by the President of the Board elected to universal and direct suffrage entails, as an automatic consequence, the reset of the regional political bodies causing, in cascade, the resignation of the entire council, the dissolution of the regional council and new elections of president and councilors.
The Council Regulations of Calabria orders the performance of a debate on the communication of the presidential resignation; Art. 60, paragraph 1, reads: “In the case of resignation of the President of the Council, the President convenes the Council within ten days of receipt of the formal communication on which each director can take the floor for no more than five minutes. After the discussion, the president definitively dismisses the directors”.
Law 108/1968 establishes that the deadline for the calling of the new elections is set within three months of the dissolution of the regional council. All this implies that, once the Council is dissolved, the electoral procedure must take place in a relatively short time span to ensure democratic and administrative continuity.
In the case of the resignation of Roberto Occhiuto, the elections for the new president and the renewal of the regional council will have to take place within three months from the date of dissolution of the Council, thus giving way to the transition phase and the electoral consultations necessary to form the new regional government.