Roberto Occhiuto, president of the Calabria Region, communicated the decision to resign from the head of the regional executive. What happens now?
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.