Ricerc@Sapienza

ABSTRACT: To ensure the correct application of the principle of gender equality in politics during
the election held in Puglia Region on September 2020, the Italian government had to intervene at
the end of July to partially replace the Apulian electoral law with a national provision enforcing
such a principle. The Italian Constitution (art. 51.1) warrants gender equality in politics and makes
it mandatory for the Regions as well (art. 117.7). Such a principle is also endorsed by state law n.
20/2016, which calls for double gender preference in regional electoral systems. Before the Apulian
regional election took place, the central government had requested that the Region introduces the
given provision in its own legislation. In the absence of any response in that sense, the government
coercively intervened in the principle application by replacing part of the Apulian legislative act.
The main issue relative to the central government intervention is whether such a coercive
replacement, which was well achieved based on art. 120.2 of the Constitution, complies with the
warrant of local autonomy also guaranteed by Constitution. This essay emphasizes how, in the
exercise of its replacement intervention, the central government did so by cooperating with the
Apulian regional government. In this sense, the central government maneuver has been achieved in compliance with the principle of local autonomy while putting into effect the application of the constitutional principle of gender equality in politics.