and
Flavio Tosi in
Verona In the
2010 regional election Zaia was elected
President of Veneto by winning 60.2% of the vote. In the
2015 regional election Zaia was re-elected President of Veneto with 50.1%, despite the split occurred in his party when
Flavio Tosi, who later won 11.9% of the vote, left in order to form the
Tosi List for Veneto. In the
2020 regional election Zaia was re-elected for a third consecutive term with 76.8% of the vote, becoming the most voted regional president ever in Italy. Additionally, Zaia's personal list won 44.6% of the vote, while the party's official list won 16.9%.
Social issues In early times of his administration, Zaia tried to limit the
RU-486 abortive pill. However, the
Italian Medicines Agency declared that his position was unconstitutional in view of how the question is regulated by the Law 194 of 1978. In 2013 Zaia spoke against the
LGBT adoption, saying: "I have nothing against gays, but the possibility of adoption seems to me to be an extreme measure with unpredictable effects." However he has since reneged on his views and even stated that "Freedom must be guaranteed to all and there is no room for homophobia and racism." in 2021 and that "Homosexuality is not an illness, but homophobia is." later in 2022. That same year following the suicide of
transgender teacher Cloe Bianco in
Marcon, Zaia stated that "for me Cloe was a woman for all intents and purposes." showing support for transgender people Zaia liberalised
artificial insemination for women up to 50 years.
Economic issues In August 2010, an
anti-globalization group demonstrated in
Vivaro against the planting of
genetically modified organisms. The demonstration was supported by Zaia, who demanded a "return to legality", even though his predecessor
Giancarlo Galan, a member of his coalition, was in favour of GMOs. After a flood in 2010, Zaia and his coalition changed a regional law to permit the reconstruction of rural ruins up to 800 cubic metres. The Democratic Party claimed that this was an attempt at "cementification". The National Association of Building Constructors (ANCE) also called the law a "bad choice". Zaia was criticized when, after the flood, he asked for more funds for the reconstruction, saying, "It's a shame spending €250,000,000 for four stones in
Pompei." at the Pontida rally
Venetian independence Zaia announced that he too had voted (yes) in the unofficial, non-binding,
online and privately organised
2014 Venetian independence referendum and explained that he would seek "total independence" for Veneto. Zaia has compared the status of the Veneto within Italy to that of
Crimea within
Ukraine.
Venetian autonomy Zaia was a strong proponent of and oversaw the
2017 Venetian autonomy referendum, in which turnout was 57.2% and 98.1% of participants voted "yes".
Covid-19 outbreak In February 2020 Zaia apologized after criticizing China over the
COVID-19 pandemic and claiming that Chinese people "eat live mice". Zaia has anyway emerged strengthened from the crisis, widely praised for keeping hospital admissions down.
Miscellaneous In the occasion of the
2011 referendums on four questions concerning the repeal of recent laws regarding the
privatisation of water services (two questions), a return to the
nuclear energy which had been phased out after the
1987 referendum, and
criminal procedure, specifically a provision exempting the Prime Minister and the Ministers from appearing in court, he voted "4 Yes". He called for more
transparency and demanded more citizens' supervision of public administration. ==See also==