Today election day: we vote for five referendums on Justice and for the renewal of 971 municipalities including 4 regional capitals. A test for parties, also from the point of view of turnout. The polling stations open at 7 am and it will be possible to vote until 11 pm. The counting for the referendum will begin immediately afterwards; that for the administrative ones instead tomorrow at 2 pm. Many sections paralyzed and procedures at a slow pace. In particular in Palermo, with tellers blocked for over 10 hours in the polling stations.
8.25 – Palermo, about fifty seat presidents are still missing. Sections open from 7, the municipality worked all night
They should have opened the doors to voters at 7 am – voting is only allowed today until 11 pm – but so far there are about fifty constituencies in Palermo where there are still no presidents to install the polling station, with the tellers waiting. “We worked all night to find presidents. Currently about 50 seats are not yet open but we are notifying the same number of appointments ”Antonio Le Donne, general secretary of the municipality of Palermo, told ANSA.
7.03 – 120 Municipalities vote in Sicily, chaos seats in Palermo Urns open until 11pm, many sections awaiting president
Ballots open in Sicily starting at 7 this morning for the five referendum questions; the island also votes for the renewal of the elected bodies in 120 municipalities, including Palermo and Messina. The ballot for the abrogative referendums will follow the closing of the polling stations, the one for the administrative session will begin at 2 pm tomorrow. In Palermo there was a situation of chaos in the constitution of seats due to the forfeit, at the last moment, of over a hundred presidents and tellers. The Prefecture has been busy all night in an attempt to resolve this situation, with the appointment of substitutes, in order to allow the smooth running of electoral operations. Discontent and inconvenience are reported in various sections: the tellers had been summoned at 16 yesterday and the preliminary operations were to last a maximum of 4 hours while instead they remained blocked until late at night. In the 120 Sicilian municipalities that vote to elect their mayors and to renew the municipal and district councils, the seats will be open from 7 to 23. The ballot for the abrogative referendums will follow the closure of the seats, the one for the administrative session will begin at 14 tomorrow . The population involved in the administrative session is 1,710,451 inhabitants, of which 900,823 also for the elections of district presidents and district councils (657,561 in Palermo and 243,262 in Messina). In 107 centers (up to 15,000 inhabitants) the majority system will vote, in thirteen (in which the eventual ballot will be held on June 26) with the proportional one. The municipal councilors to be elected are 1,520 and the electoral sections that will be established are 1,747. In the city of Messina alone, the referendum on the establishment of the new “Montemare” municipality will also be voted. In the two provincial capitals, the consultations also concern the 8 districts of Palermo and the 6 of Messina. Other large centers are also at the polls: Palma di Montechiaro and Sciacca, in the Agrigento area; Niscemi, in the province of Caltanissetta; Aci Catena, Palagonia, Paternò and Scordia, in the Catania area; Pozzallo and Scicli, in the province of Ragusa; Avola, in the Syracuse area; Erice in the province of Trapani.