Mercedes Bresso of the centre-left Democratic Party, the incumbent president of the region, lost her seat to Roberto Cota, leader of the Northern League Piedmont (Lega Piemonte) and floor leader of Lega Nord (Northern League) in the Italian Chamber of Deputies, who was backed also by The People of Freedom.

The day after his bid was announced, Cota explained that it is time to rewrite the history of Italian unification, that was led by the Kingdom of Sardinia under the House of Savoy.

Cota underlined that Piedmont was once an independent state and told that even Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, did not intend to unify the whole Italian Peninsula and later favoured a federal reform of the new Kingdom of Italy.

In Cota's view, most of his support would come from industrial workers, including those of Southern Italy descent, and Catholics embarrassed by Bresso's secularism.

[2] The Union of the Centre, whose main aim in the election was to fight back the Northern League, chose to support Bresso, turning down the chance of running its own candidate, the most likely being Michele Vietti.