Vincenzo De Luca

Vincenzo De Luca (born 8 May 1949 in Ruvo del Monte) is an Italian politician, member of the Democratic Party. De Luca was Mayor of Salerno for more than 17 years and has served as President of the Campania region since 18 June 2015.

Early life

De Luca was born in 1949 in Ruvo del Monte, in the province of Potenza, and then moved to Salerno at an early age alongside his family. After obtaining a high school diploma at the Liceo classico Torquato Tasso of Salerno, he graduated in philosophy at the University of Salerno. Indeed, before devoting himself exclusively to politics, he used to work as a philosophy teacher in high schools.

Political career

During the 1970s, De Luca became a member of the Italian Communist Party, at the time led by Enrico Berlinguer. In 1975, after having been head of the party's provincial organization, he was appointed as provincial secretary, leading the federation for a decade. In those years, he was jokingly nicknamed "The Professor" (O Professore) because of his job as a philosophy teacher. Due to his tough temper, De Luca was also nicknamed "Pol Pot", just like the Cambodian communist dictator.

Mayor of Salerno

De Luca was elected to the Salerno city council in 1990, holding the posts of both Commissioner of Public works and Deputy Mayor. In the spring of 1993, he was promoted to the office of mayor due to the resignation of Vincent Giordano, who found himself involved in the ongoing Tangentopoli investigation. A month later, the resignation of the majority of councilors resulted in the dissolution of the municipal council. The subsequent elections marked a significant success of De Luca's "Progressive List for Salerno", with 57.8% of votes in a second ballot against Giuseppe Acocella.

On 16 November 1997, De Luca was re-elected Mayor in the first round with 71.3% of the vote.

Member of the Chamber of Deputies

Not being able to reapply for a third term as Mayor, De Luca resigned in order to run for a parliamentary seat in the 2001 general election; on 31 May 2001 he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies with a percentage of 55.4% of the votes, the highest obtained by a candidate of The Olive Tree coalition in Southern Italy.

After the 2006 general election, De Luca was re-elected at the Chamber of Deputies, was appointed as a member of the Agriculture Commission.

Mayor of Salerno again

During the 2006 local elections, De Luca was re-elected as Mayor of Salerno for a third term after a run-off election, gaining 56.9% of the ballots. He ran as the candidate of the center-left list "Progressives for Salerno", in opposition to the MEP Alfonso Andria, supported by The Daisy, and some members of the Democrats of the Left, which were against De Luca's candidacy, due to his strong dissent towards Democrat President of Campania Antonio Bassolino.

On 30 January 2010 De Luca announced his candidacy to become President of Campania in the March regional election. However, his centre-right rival Stefano Caldoro, a former minister and leader of the New PSI (merged into The People of Freedom in 2009) won by a convincing margin, thanks to a 20% swing in favor of the centre-right, which included the Union of the Centre led by Ciriaco De Mita, an influent former leader of Christian Democracy.

In 2011 De Luca was re-elected for a fourth term as Mayor of Salerno with 74.42% of votes.

President of Campania

On 31 May 2015, De Luca was elected President of Campania in the regional election, with 41% of the votes, defeating incumbent governor Stefano Caldoro with a margin of 66,000 votes.