South Tyrol Senate approves electoral district reorganization

The South Tyrol Senate has approved a reorganization of single-member electoral districts. Under the new boundaries, the Bolzano constituency will consist only of the provincial capital and Leifers. The Unterland region, including the municipalities of Branzoll and Pfatten, will be reassigned to the Meran constituency.

The redistricting follows a proposal by SVP senators Meinhard Durnwalder and Julia Unterberger and was reached through a political agreement between the SVP and Fratelli d’Italia. Additionally, the Senate approved an SVP motion aimed at securing a third minority seat in the Chamber of Deputies.

The decision has faced criticism from the Green Party and the Democratic Party (PD). Critics, including Senator Luigi Spagnolli and Landtag member Brigitte Foppa, have characterized the move as a top-down decision that sacrifices political pluralism and the representation of the Unterland region to protect existing party seats.

Separately, recent constitutional reforms regarding the autonomy statute for the Trentino-South Tyrol region have altered the official German designation of the region. The name has been changed to ‘Autonome Region Trentino-Südtirol/Alto Adige’ to align with the Italian tripartite naming structure, a move that has raised concerns regarding linguistic and historical accuracy for German and Ladin linguistic groups.