To date, in the 2025 regional elections, the most significant data does not come from the parties, but from the turnout: more and more citizens are choosing not to vote. A consolidated trend which, which started years ago at a national level, today also profoundly affects local consultations. In 1995, almost 85% of eligible voters showed up at the polls for the regional elections. Thirty years later, participation has halved. In the Marche region, for example, the rate went from 59.75% in 2020 to 50.01% today. It should be remembered that five years ago there were also votes for a constitutional referendum and for municipal elections in various capitals. According to an Istat report on political participation, the lack of interest is now transversal. For example, only 48.9% regularly inform themselves about political issues, a decrease compared to 60% twenty years ago. Almost half of the population, however, admits that they never or very rarely get information: 60% due to disinterest, a quarter due to mistrust in politics. Discussions between citizens are also disappearing: political debate between ordinary people is increasingly rare. Politics is no longer of interest.

Acquaroli, Occhiuto and Giani reconfirmed, but the real winner is the abstention

Francesco Acquaroli (centre-right) is reconfirmed as president of the Marche Region for the second time. But the most eloquent figure is another: only 50% of voters voted. The governor obtained 26.1% of the support of those entitled to vote, followed by Maurizio Ricci at 22.3%. The rest – half – chose not to express themselves. Abstention was more marked among young people, people with less education and citizens in economic difficulty. On the contrary, the wealthier groups went to the polls to a greater extent, largely rewarding Acquaroli. Ricci gained consensus especially among the middle class, while renunciation of the vote prevailed among the more vulnerable classes. The link between socio-economic hardship and abstentionism is increasingly structural and also present at a national level. Also in Calabria the center-right confirms the outgoing president, Roberto Occhiuto. But turnout collapsed to 43.15%, a historic low for the region, down from the already low 44.36% in 2021. The non-vote hit both sides across the board: 19.7% of the centre-right electorate and 18.5% of the centre-left electorate abstained. Abstention was more marked among former voters of the 5 Star Movement, confirming a chronic difficulty in mobilizing the party at a local level. Not even the candidacy of former INPS president Pasquale Tridico managed to reverse the trend. Collapse of turnout also in Tuscany, where only 47.73% of voters went to the polls: five years ago it was 62.6%. President Eugenio Giani is reconfirmed, but with very little real consensus. Adding the votes obtained by him and the related lists, the result stops at 22.5% of those entitled. All the main candidates lose votes compared to 2020: Giani leaves over 112,000 on the field, the right-wing candidate even 150,000. Only the candidate of the left, Antonella Bundu, contains the losses, but even here it is a decrease (from 78,000 to 72,000 votes). In a context of widespread abstentionism, those who lose less, paradoxically, gain in percentage terms.

If no one votes, what’s the point of voting?

The data shows a clear picture: abstention is no longer an exception, but the norm. Istat analyzes highlight how disaffection is increasingly linked to economic, cultural and generational factors. While politics seems to chase numbers and alliances, the real challenge remains that of rebuilding trust and participation. Because, in many Italian regions, those who manage to convince just over one citizen in five now govern. One would think that citizens have lost interest in politics and, more particularly, in regional politics. And the temptation would be to foresee a second level election for the President of the Region as well as for the related regional councils, a bit like what happens for the provincial and metropolitan city councils. But why have citizens lost interest in politics and increasingly renounce exercising their right to vote?

Leaders built on the table, empty programs: politics that doesn’t warm hearts

It is probable that the cause lies in the perception of a policy that is too distant from the demands of citizens. A policy that is based more on the game of alliances, on numerical summations and on the initiatives of the mere political class, than on real political impulses, characterized by programs capable of conveying not only consensus, but also participation. This can be seen, for example, in the strenuous attempt of the centre-left – also known as “Campo largo” – to identify and baptize a center leg, with the invention from scratch of new moderate leaders and federators (from Ernesto Maria Ruffini to Silvia Salis, mayor of Genoa, up to Alessandro Onorato, councilor of Roberto Gualtieri’s Roman council). In this sense, politics is perceived more as a marketing operation than as a true representation of citizens’ needs. Ultimately, one always has the impression that the various leaders are chosen on the basis of a cast, rather than through a real selection of the best ruling class. Most of the time, the candidates’ choices do not warm the heart very much, leaving those linked to the political class to vote, the direct beneficiaries – in various capacities – of one or the other political party, while the majority who have no direct use from the world of politics remain at home. All those who do not have a utilitarian relationship in relation to the election of one or another candidate.

Eternal governors and prefabricated candidates: the crisis of regional democracy

A political class that proceeds by co-optation, presenting candidates, at times, created by the mass media – between political talk shows and pages of interviews by biased newspapers – which build the media character, but fail to substantiate it with real political content and a real connection with the electorate. A policy which, despite the proclamations, cannot do without the so-called “caciques”, see the cases of Puglia and Campania. Elections which mostly re-elect outgoing presidents – when they run for their second mandate – or which are strongly influenced by their political influence: see the case of Luca Zaia in Veneto, Vincenzo De Luca in Campania and Michele Emiliano in Puglia. So, wouldn’t it be appropriate to stop holding these regional elections? That the Regional Presidents are crowned by the party secretariats and lobbies of pre-established interests (which mostly concern healthcare and construction) and that the regional councilors are appointed on the basis of their wealth. Perhaps by creating a sort of prime time show, interspersed between one commercial and another. Something that looks much more like politics than marketing which, it seems, can do without electoral participation. Because, according to the numbers, citizens no longer believe in it.