The new Provincial Council of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano–South Tyrol, will be elected on October 22, 2023. The Provincial Council is elected by proportional representation and direct universal suffrage.
35 Provincial council members will be elected; they will automatically cover the charge of regional councillors, too. The President of the Province is not directly elected by the people but by the members of the provincial Council. The Council will be made by at least 7 to a maximum of 10 people, besides the President.
Granted linguistic representation
The Province of Bolzano is a province with a special statute, similar to the one of Trento, and together they form the Trentino – South Tyrol Region. Three linguistic groups live in the province of Bolzano: Italian, German, and Ladin. The law grants the presence of representatives for the Ladin linguistic group for the election of the Provincial Council of Bolzano. Should there be a case by which no seats are given to a list with a candidate that belongs to the Ladin linguistic group, a seat is offered to the candidate of this linguistic group that has reached the highest individual number.
The President of the Provincial Council of Bolzano is elected in the first thirty months of activity among the members that belong to the German linguistic group. The President is elected among the members of the Italian linguistic group in the following period. The majority of the members of the German or Italian linguistic groups can elect a member of the Ladin linguistic group, subject to consent, for the said periods. The members elected in the Provincial Council of Bolzano, together with the ones elected in the Provincial Council of Trento form the Regional Council of the Trentino – South Tyrol Region.
Who can vote
Those citizens – who by October 22, 2023 are 18 of age, are enrolled on the electoral rolls, are resident on the territory of the Trentino – South Tyrol Region by an uninterrupted period of four years and in that four-year-period have spent the greatest period of residence on the territory of the province of Bolzano on the date of the publication of the decree to the general election calling - are called to vote.
The polling seats will be open from 7am to 9pm on election day (October 22, 2023). The first count of votes will be carried out right at the closing of the polling seats.
The citizens have to show up at the polling seat indicated on their electoral card, with the same card and an Identity card. Those who do not have an electoral card because they did not receive it or because it has worn off, or lost or stolen, have to go to the municipality elector offices that will stay open from October 17 to October 21 from 9am to 7pm, as well as on October 22 for the entire length of the polls. Vote by post service for those who reside abroad and for those who are temporarily out of the Province is also foreseen for this election, given they ask for it.
Residents abroad
Those citizens who reside abroad have the right to vote if at the time of their migration they had the foreseen requirements for the right to vote. Moreover, their children born or transferred abroad have the right to vote, and their spouses who have acquired the Italian citizenship by marriage. An uncompromising prerequisite for the right to vote is the registration to AIRE (population register for the Italian citizens that reside abroad). The electors who reside abroad, registered by AIRE, vote via post service.
The voter, who resides abroad and wishes to come back to South Tyrol to directly vote at his/her polling seat, has to forward direct request to the registration Municipality.
Travel and other expenses are non-refundable.
The citizen, who resides abroad and has the right to vote, will receive communication within 60 days before the expiration of the current legislation term regarding the date of the elections and the modalities by which his/her vote can be expressed by postal service.
Once the voter has expressed his/her vote according to the indicated modalities, the citizen sends back to the central electoral Office the pre-paid big envelope by postal service. The envelope has to arrive within and not later than the Friday preceding the day of the vote (i.e., October 20, 2023).