Primary elections in Italy
Primary date ( s ) Party/Coalition Position ( s ) Winner
23 January 2011 Democratic Party and allies Mayor of Bologna Virginio Merola
23 January 2011 Democratic Party and allies Mayor of Naples Andrea Cozzolino *
30 January 2011 Democratic Party and allies Mayor of Cagliari Massimo Zedda
27 February 2011 Democratic Party and allies Mayor of Turin Piero Fassino
4 December 2011 Democratic Party and allies Mayor of Verona Michele Bertucco
29 January 2012 Democratic Party and allies Mayor of Parma Vincenzo Bernazzoli
12 February 2012 Democratic Party and allies Mayor of Genoa Marco Doria
4 March 2012 Democratic Party and allies Mayor of Palermo Fabrizio Ferrandelli
25 November 2012 Democratic Party and allies Prime Minister of Italy Pier Luigi Bersani
15 December 2012 Democratic Party and allies President of Lombardy Umberto Ambrosoli
7 April 2013 Democratic Party and allies Mayor of Rome Ignazio Marino
14 April 2013 Democratic Party and allies Mayor of Brescia Emilio Del Bono
13 July 2013 Democratic Party and allies President of Trentino Ugo Rossi
22 September 2013 Democratic Party and allies President of Basilicata Marcello Pittella
29 September 2013 Democratic Party and allies President of Sardinia Francesca Barracciu *
8 December 2013 Democratic Party Party leader Matteo Renzi
2 February 2014 Democratic Party and allies Mayor of Padua Ivo Rossi
23 February 2014 Democratic Party and allies Mayor of Bari Antonio Decaro
23 February 2014 Brothers of Italy Party leader Giorgia Meloni
2 March 2014 Democratic Party and allies Mayor of Modena Gian Carlo Muzzarelli
Most relevant primary elections -- 2011–2015
Primary elections were first introduced in Italy by Lega Nord in 1995, but were seldom used until before the 2005 regional elections. In January 2005 the centre-left The Union coalition held open primaries in order to select its candidate for President in Apulia. More importantly, in October 2005, The Union asked its voters to choose the candidate for Prime Minister in the 2006 general election: 4.3 million voters showed up and Romano Prodi won hands down. Two years later, in October 2007: 3.5 million voters of the Democratic Party were called to elect Walter Veltroni as their first leader, the party's constituent assembly and regional leaders. The centre-right (see House of Freedoms, The People of Freedom, centre-right coalition and Forza Italia) has held primary elections only at the local level.