Vito Santarsiero

Vito Santarsiero (born 2 March 1955) is an Italian politician. Santarsiero began his political career as a member of Christian Democracy (DC). He joined the Italian People's Party (PPI) in 1994 and then Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy (DL) in 2002. In 2007, he was a founding member of the Democratic Party (PD).

Santarsiero was president of the province of Potenza from 1990 to 2004, mayor of Potenza for two terms from 2004 to 2014, and president of the Regional Council of Basilicata from April 2018 to May 2019.

Early life and education Santarsiero was born in Potenza. He attended the liceo scientifico named after Galileo Galilei in Potenza with a grade of 60 out of 60. He graduated in civil engineering from the University of Naples Federico II with a grade of 110 out of 110. He is a designer of public and private works in the construction and plumbing sectors. In 1990, he became an official of the Basilicata region in the environmental compatibility office.

Career As a member of the DC, Santarsiero was provincial manager of the agricultural sector and rural development from 1990 to 1994. In 1994, with the dissolution of the DC, he joined Mino Martinazzoli's PPI, of which he became provincial organizational director. At the 1995 Italian local elections in Potenza, he was elected provincial councilor with the PPI, becoming group leader of the PPI in the provincial council until 1999. In the 1999 Italian local elections, he ran for president of the province of Potenza with the PPI. He was supported by a centre-left coalition made up of the Democrats of the Left (DS), The Democrats (Dem), the Italian Democratic Socialists (SDI), the Federation of the Greens (FdV), Italian Renewal (RI), the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC), and the Party of Italian Communists (PdCI). He was elected president of the province of Potenza in the first round with 64.2% of the votes (142,848), while the main centre-right coalition challenger Camillo Naborre was a distant second at 27.7%. During his mandate, Santarsiero was also president of UPI Basilicata.

In 2002, Santarsiero joined Francesco Rutelli's DL, a party of which he became a member of the national assembly and provincial leadership in 2004. In the 2004 Italian local elections, he was the centre-left coalition's successful candidate for mayor of Potenza, a position he held for five years; he was elected with 74.1% of the votes. At the end of his mandate, he run for re-election during the 2009 Italian local elections with the PD, of which he had been a founding member in 2007; he reached the run-off with the centre-right coalition's candidate Giuseppe Molinari of The People of Freedom (PdL) and defeating him with 59.3% against 40.7%. On 9 April 2018, he was elected president of the Basilicata Regional Council,